Garry Rogers Motorsport will return to the Supercars grid for the first time since 2020, entering a wildcard for the Repco Bathurst 1000 with James Moffat and debutant Nathan Herne sharing an ex-Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro.
The timing was not accidental. The announcement was made on what would have been the 81st birthday of team founder Garry Rogers, who died last October, and the October 8-11 race falls within days of the anniversary of his passing.
"The motivation is 100 percent Garry. It was unfinished business for Dad," GRM director Barry Rogers told Speedcafe. "He wanted to get Nathan Herne to Bathurst after what happened in 2020. It's something we'd spoken about in the last couple of years. He would be rapt that we're doing it."
What happened in 2020 still stings. Herne was named for GRM's wildcard that year and was then denied dispensation to start under Motorsport Australia's Superlicence rules. The entry ran with Jayden Ojeda and Tyler Everingham instead. Six years on, the debut finally happens.
Rogers expanded on his father's motivation to V8 Sleuth. "You never close a chapter on something, but he was really, really keen to get Nathan Herne a Bathurst gig," he said. "Whatever happened a number of years ago, we moved on, but he was still very, very keen and spoke about it regularly as something he would love to do."
In the team's own release, Rogers framed the entry as a thank-you rather than a comeback. "I'm aware of the romantic side to GRM again racing in Supercars and in particular at Bathurst and although it's important to embrace that feeling, this entry is to celebrate what Dad contributed to Motorsport and to thank him," he said.
The car is significant in its own right — it is the Camaro Craig Lowndes drove in his final Triple Eight start. The livery is not finalised but will be a retro nod to the VT Commodore in which Garth Tander and Jason Bargwanna won the 2000 Great Race, carrying the famous #34 and backing from Valvoline, a GRM partner for close to four decades.
"It's got that 2000 look about it," Rogers told V8 Sleuth. "We want to really embrace the heritage of GRM and obviously Garry. We have still got that core group of long-time, 20-plus-year workers here."
Moffat, a three-time Bathurst podium finisher with second places in 2014 and 2021, will make his 17th Great Race start. "To be heading back to Bathurst with GRM is going to be very special. I wasn't sure if my streak of starts at Bathurst was going to end this year," he said. "I'm very much looking forward to lending my experience to the whole wildcard program and being able to help guide Nathan Herne through his first Bathurst 1000 start."
Herne, currently leading Moffat in the 2026 Trans Am standings, was pointed about the pairing. "To be doing it with Moff is a huge deal as well. He mentored me early on in my career and was one of the big catalysts behind me moving down to Melbourne in 2021 to work for GRM full time," he said.
The logistics are tight. GRM has one test day, scheduled for September, and will share a pit boom and pit crew with the Team 18-run Supercheap Auto wildcard. A race engineer and participation in GM's data-sharing program were still to be confirmed at the time of the announcement. The Camaro was due to arrive at GRM on Sunday following a handover at Triple Eight.
Rogers is not pretending the entry is a title threat, but he was equally clear it is not a parade lap. "We want to perform, but we've won by getting there. We'll have achieved what we want to achieve by getting there for Garry," he said. "Would Garry want us to run around last all weekend? No he wouldn't be. So we'll do our best. The expectation is that we get to Lap 161 with a straight car and from there, who knows where we'll end up. We're not there to make up the numbers."
The Bathurst 1000 grid now stands at 26 cars, with GRM joining Team 18's Craig Lowndes and Bayley Hall entry as the second wildcard.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/garry-rogers-motorsport-returns-to-bathurst-in-tribute-to-garry). Visit for full coverage.*