BATHHURST, Australia. (February 16, 2026) – The Johor Motorsports Racing No. 2 Z06 GT3.R of Alexander Sims, Nicky Catsburg and Earl Bamber rocketed up the standings from the start and ran toward the front for most of the event before having to retire inside the final two hours.
Straight off the back of the Asian Le Mans Series in Abu Dhabi, Sims and the JMR crew travelled to Australia for the 12 Hours of Bathurst. Surprisingly, Sims had yet to race at the iconic Mount Panorama circuit, and the event also marked Corvette Racing’s first time competing at the venue too.
Starting from P14, he No. 2 Corvette played the strategy game early and made it pay off. Bamber qualified 25th but made up six spots before the first of eight full-course yellows. The JMR team elected to stop for a fuel fill to go off-strategy which eventually cycled Bamber into the top-five at the time of the race’s second FCY near the 90-minute mark.
From that point on, the No. 2 Corvette was a constant at the front of the field. Sims stormed to the lead near the end of his stint, and Catsburg ran at the front for the entirety of his stint. The three drivers cycled back through with the Corvette part of the lead fight into the final two hours. As he did at Suzuka last year, Catsburg starred in the race’s latter half, and Sunday he posted the fastest lap of the race in his final stint.
The chase for an overall victory came to an end as Bamber stopped on track with a little more than 90 minutes left in the race.
ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 2 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The JMR team operated on a really high level and our Corvette was fast. We had a very strong race apart from the obvious issues that raised their head. We executed a really good race and we had the speed. I honestly didn’t expect the race pace to be what it was. It seemed to be when we did many laps that the tires switched on. We didn’t really see that performance in practice and maybe doing lots of shorter runs was part of the reason for that. It was the same in qualifying… not having a long enough run. Earl’s fastest lap was his last one. It was a what-could-have-been weekend. The win was on, so that was a huge positive. But at the same time we come here to win and you have to execute the race and finish it perfectly. A lot of good things done by the team. My first Bathurst has been fantastic. It took me a little bit of time to feel comfortable with the track. In the race having two stints doing fuel-saving and pushing with other cars around, I started to feel really comfortable. It’s been a really enjoyable process for me to go through. There aren’t so many new experiences in motor racing any more for me. To have one of those is fantastic.”
