19/11/2002 - The British based Rollcentre Racing team came to Australia to give their new car, the awesome Morrison Mosler MT900R the ultimate test on one of the world's most challenging race circuits, and achieved that feat, finishing second and the leading European team, featuring a mixture of drama, tension and the odd bit of good luck.

After qualifying fourth, lead driver, Martin Short began the race, aiming for a consistent pace of 2:25-2:30. Whilst the event winning Holden Monaro and the Cirtek Porsche set about establishing a cracking pace, the Rollcentre team were quite happy to let them go for it and settling into their own race, never being lower than fourth throughout the event, the consistent pace set by the four drivers, Short, Mark Pashley, Charles Lamb and Dilantha Malagamuwa the telling factor

The result was not without drama however, at around half race distance early this morning, the car's clutch failed, resulting in some frantic pitwork to get the car back into the race, despite the entire weekend going off without a hitch to this point. It was at this point that several problems began to arise, forcing the Mosler to lose several unnecessary laps, which proved crucial in the overall wash up. On the exit of the pit bay after fixing the clutch, Martin Short ran over team manager, Darryl Dixon's foot, resulting in a suspected break.

The trouble did not end there. The incident that changed the face of the inaugural Bathurst 24 Hour Classic involved Mosler driver, Mark Pashley, when Allan Grice (in the Cirtek Porsche) went around the outside of Pashley to put yet another lap on him, drifting wide and slamming the wall at the top of the mountain, putting the Cirtek team out of the event and allowing the Mosler into second position. In the safety car period to clean up the stricken Porsche, Pashley discovered an overheating problem, which proved not to provide a problem.

Short, who was to complete the race for the experienced European combination, struck difficulty right up until the end of the race, with a fellow competitor giving Martin the short back and sides on the final lap exiting Forest's Elbow! "I really don't know what this guy was doing! I went up to him after the race to see what he was trying to achieve. We had managed to avoid a crash throughout the entire race and this guy wants to get racey with only three corners to go!" This completed an interesting final hour for the Englishman, who became the only competitor throughout the weekend to interact with the local wildlife, the Animal Repellent Devices fitted to the Mosler working a treat on the kangaroos and brown snakes, however not the turtle Short collected!

"We are absolutely elated to come away with this result," said Rollcentre Racing chief, Martin Short. "After the problems we encountered, particularly in the second half of the race, to finish second is amazing. We arrived in Australia hoping to come away with a top result, but weren't really sure of what to expect from the competition or the track. The competition proved to be extremely tough, and as for the track, as any of my guys will tell you it is one of the best in the world."

"Certainly, we will begin to prepare for the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour immediately, so that we can come here over weekend of December 5-7 2003, where we hope to be considerably better prepared to turn that second place into a victory."