The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the
Liqui Moly
Liqui Moly GmbH is a German company specializing in oils, lubricants and additives. As of January 1, 2018, Liqui Moly is part of the Würth Group which bought the remaining shares of the previous majority holder and CEO Ernst Prost. He now is ...
Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for
GT and
production cars held at the
Mount Panorama Circuit, in
Bathurst,
Australia. The race was first held in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
for Series Production cars and moved to
Sydney's
Eastern Creek Raceway in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
before being discontinued.
The race was revived in
2007, again for production cars, before adding a new class for GT3 and other GT cars in
2011. This has led to unprecedented domestic and international exposure for the event. In all, eighteen races have taken place; seventeen at Mount Panorama and one at
Eastern Creek Raceway (Sydney Motorsport Park).
Background
The event was inspired by the long-running
Bathurst 500
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rec ...
production car
Production vehicles or production cars are mass-produced identical models, offered for sale to the public, and able to be legally driven on public roads ( street legal). Legislation and other rules further define the production vehicle within part ...
race, which began at the
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956.
History Road circuit
Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...
in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
in
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Jan ...
(before moving to Bathurst in
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...
) as a race for standard production cars with minimal modifications. In 1973 when the race was lengthened from 500 miles to 1000 kilometres, the regulations for cars entering the race changed from standard "series production" cars to improved touring cars. The Bathurst 12 Hour was intended to re-create the original feel of the Bathurst 1000, while providing a unique test in the longer race distance, rather than replicating the 1000 kilometre event.
History
Production origins
In 1990, Vincent Tesoriero, a race promoter and former Bathurst 1000 competitor, looked at the decline of
Group A
Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles ...
touring cars in Australia and saw an opportunity to run a 12-hour endurance race for Series Production cars at Mount Panorama. Tesoriero secured long time Bathurst 1000 sponsor
James Hardie as a sponsor for the event in late 1990, leaving limited time to launch and organise the event for the Easter weekend in 1991.
The race regulations were based on the
Group 3E Series Production Car rules then in use in the
Australian Production Car Championship for
naturally aspirated four- and six-cylinder passenger sedans, but also allowed
turbocharged and
V8-engined cars which had been outlawed from the Production Car Championship in 1990. Despite the short deadline, twenty-four cars were entered for the
first race, spread over six different classes based on engine capacity and sporting specification.
Exotic
mid-engined
In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle.
History
The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...
sports cars and GT cars were not eligible to enter.
The race was originally scheduled to run from 9am to 9pm but this was disallowed by
Bathurst Regional Council. The race would instead run from 5:15am to 5:15pm, with the final two hours televised by
Network Ten.
Despite the event's length, the competitors proved extremely reliable, with twenty cars finishing the race. The race was won by
Allan Grice
Allan Maxwell Grice (born 21 October 1942), known to motor-racing fans as "Gricey", is an Australian former racing driver and politician, most famous for twice winning the prestigious Bathurst 1000 (1986 and 1990), and as a privateer driver o ...
,
Peter Fitzgerald and
Nigel Arkell racing Fitzgerald's 1989 Production Car Championship specification
Toyota Supra Turbo.
In
1992, manufacturer-backed teams began to appear with large teams entered and funded by
Mazda
, commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan.
In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
,
Holden,
Citroën and
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
.
Porsche would also provide factory support from
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
onwards.
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
,
Nissan,
Maserati,
BMW and
Lotus were also represented but not by factory-supported teams. The Mazda team would go on to dominate the event with the
Mazda RX-7
The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...
, winning the next three consecutive races at Mount Panorama.
Facing rising costs, the
1995 event was moved from Bathurst to
Eastern Creek Raceway in
Sydney, and from the Easter weekend to August, before the race was discontinued in 1996.
Hiatus
After no major race for production cars for a number of years, the concept was revived with the short-lived
Bathurst 24 Hour
The Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales in 2002 and 2003. Only two races were held before the collapse of the management organisation PROCAR. Both ...
races in
2002 and
2003. The races were run by
Nations Cup owners PROCAR and were dominated by the
Holden Monaro 427C
The Holden Monaro 427C was an Australian built and designed GT style race car based on the Holden Monaro CV8 road car. The car ran in the Procar Australia-run Australian Nations Cup Championship and at the short-lived Bathurst 24 Hour race a ...
s of
Garry Rogers Motorsport
Garry Rogers Motorsport is an Australian motor racing team. It is owned by retired racing driver Garry Rogers who began the team to further his own racing efforts. Based in Melbourne, originally out of a Nissan dealership owned by Rogers, the te ...
. The Bathurst 24 Hour only lasted two years before PROCAR owner Ross Palmer was forced to abandon the race due to rising costs.
Revival
The Bathurst 12 Hour was successfully revived in
2007 as part of the Bathurst Motorsport Festival While James O'Brien, who masterminded the return of the event, planned for GT cars to share the event with production cars, the return of the race began with regulations close to its original concept as a race for production cars.
32 cars were entered for the 2007 race, which was won by
Garry Holt,
Paul Morris and
Craig Baird
Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver who now is the driving standards observer for the Australian Supercars Championship.
Honours
In the 2010 New Year Honours, Baird was appointed a Member of the New ...
in a
BMW 335i. The win was ten years after Morris and Baird had won the
1997 AMP Bathurst 1000
The 1997 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 38th running of the annual Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 5 October 1997 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the first Bathurst 1000 r ...
in a BMW only to later be disqualified for exceeding driver time regulations. The race proved a preview of this period of the race, which saw
BMW and
Mitsubishi as the main combatants. The 2007
Subaru entry of rally drivers
Chris Atkinson
Chris Atkinson (born 30 November 1979 in Bega, New South Wales, Australia) is a professional rally driver. In the World Rally Championship (WRC), Atkinson drove for the Subaru World Rally Team between 2004 and 2008. His best finish on an indi ...
,
Dean Herridge
Dean Herridge (born 23 August 1976) is an Australian rally driver. He finished eighth on the 2006 Rally Australia, scoring one World Rally Championship point.
Career
Herridge began rallying in 1994. He contested his first World Rally Champions ...
and
Cody Crocker
Cody Crocker (born 18 October 1971) is an Australian rally and racing car driver. Crocker won seven titles between 2003 and 2009 and with 24 wins and four consecutive championships is the most successful driver in the history of the Asia-Pacific ...
would be the only other manufacturer to finish the race in the top two between 2007 and 2010.
The
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and
2009 races were won by
Mitsubishi Lancer
The Mitsubishi Lancer is an automobile produced by the Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors since 1973.
The Lancer has been marketed as the Colt Lancer, Dodge Colt, Plymouth Colt, Chrysler Valiant Lancer, Chrysler Lancer, Eagle Summit, Hin ...
s, with Rod Salmon and Damien White amongst both line-ups. The 2009 race was particularly dominated by Mitsubishi, with the marque finishing in the first four positions.
Garry Holt would then repeat his 2007 victory in
2010, driving again with Morris and also with
John Bowe. The race was interrupted for an hour after a tree fell across Conrod Straight.
The number of entries grew over this production-based period, peaking at 48 in 2009, while the final race held strictly to production car regulations in 2010 attracted 42 entries.
During this time, the event itself grew in stature each year, firmly entrenching itself as one of the biggest race meetings at the start of the domestic Australian racing season, along with the
Adelaide 500
The Adelaide 500 (also known as the VALO Adelaide 500 for sponsorship reasons) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars held on the streets of the east end of Adelaide, South Australia between 1999 to 2020 and again from 2022. It is someti ...
and the
Australian Grand Prix.
International expansion
In
2011, GT3-specification cars were allowed into the 12 hour race for the first time. Despite this, the number of entries dropped dramatically as many of the production car teams, disillusioned by the move towards GT, decided not to race.
Of the 26 cars that competed in 2011, just eight raced in the production car classes, compared with the 42 that made up the full 2010 field.
The German-based
Joest Racing
Joest Racing is a sports car racing team that was established in 1978 by former Porsche works racer Reinhold Joest. Their headquarters are in Wald-Michelbach, Germany.
Early years
As a combined driver/team owner, Reinhold Joest first began t ...
dominated the 2011 event, with the team's two
Audi R8 LMS GT3s finishing first and second, a lap ahead of the third-placed Porsche.
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
saw another small field of just 25 cars. Audi won the race for the second consecutive year, this time with
DTM and
FIA GT1 team
Phoenix Racing.
The
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
event ended the two-year run of poor entry numbers, with a record field of over 50 cars. Another first for the event saw the opening round of the
2013 Australian GT Championship
The 2013 Australian GT Championship was a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, CAMS sanctioned national motor racing championship open to GT style closed production based Sports car racing, sports cars which were either approved by the Fédér ...
incorporated into the first hour of the race. The results of the GT Championship round were based on the positions of the cars that had elected to race for GT Championship points at the end of the first hour of racing. Teams could then either continue on and complete the full race, or withdraw their car after the first hour. Drivers were allowed to cross-enter between cars so that they could race one car in the one-hour GT Championship race and then drive another car that was entered for the full 12 hours.
Erebus Motorsport
Erebus Motorsport, (formerly known as Erebus Racing,) is an Australian motor racing team. The team competes in the Supercars Championship with two Holden ZB Commodores. The team's current drivers are Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki.
The team i ...
took the first win for an Australian team under the GT regulations with German drivers
Bernd Schneider,
Thomas Jäger
Thomas Jäger (born 27 October 1976) is a German professional racing driver.
Career
Born in Chemnitz, Jäger competed in the Renault Spider Trophy in 1997.http://www.driverdb.com/drivers/407/career/ Career statistics at Driver Database He bega ...
and
Alexander Roloff taking their
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG (C197 / R197) is a front mid-engine, 2-seater, limited production grand tourer developed by the Mercedes-AMG division of German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, with the assistance of David Coulthard. The car is ...
to victory.
Maranello Motorsport
Maranello Motorsport is a GT racing team that is competing in the Australian GT Championship. Maranello Motorsport was formed in the late 1990s by Mark Coffey to enter Australia's then premier sports car racing series, Nations Cup.
Racing Hist ...
took a poignant win in the
2014 event—the team's former driver
Allan Simonsen
Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barc ...
was killed in a crash at the
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 19 to 23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close ...
—with
V8 Supercar
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
driver
Craig Lowndes
Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator.
Lowndes is a three-time V8 Sup ...
holding off a late charge from German driver
Maximilian Buhk
Maximilian Buhk (born 9 December 1992 in Reinbek) is a retired German racing driver.
Career
Karting
Buhk began karting in 2004 and raced only in his native Germany for the majority of his career, working his way up from the junior ranks to prog ...
to take victory. 2014 also saw the introduction of the ''Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy'', named in honour of Simonsen, to be awarded to the fastest car in qualifying.
The
2015 race featured a record twenty safety car periods, the last coming just minutes from the end of the race.
Katsumasa Chiyo
is a Japanese factory racing driver, currently competing in the Autobacs Super GT Series as a factory driver for Nissan. He is a graduate of the Nissan Driver Development Program (NDDP), and a past champion of the Bathurst 12 Hour race, and t ...
, driving a
Nissan GT-R
The Nissan GT-R (Japanese: 日産・GT-R, ''Nissan GT-R''), is a high-performance sports car and grand tourer produced by Nissan, unveiled in 2007. It is the successor to the Skyline GT-R, a high performance variant of the Nissan Skyline. Alt ...
, took the lead with two laps remaining to give
Nissan its first major victory at Mount Panorama since the
1992 Bathurst 1000
The 1992 Tooheys 1000 was the 33rd running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 4 October 1992, at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The race was held for cars eligible for International Group A touring car r ...
.
In August 2015, the
V8 Supercars
The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
Supercars events take place in all Australian ...
-owned company Supercars Events purchased 50% of the Bathurst 12 Hour, joining existing part-owners Bathurst Regional Council. This followed a date clash between the 2015 12 Hour and V8 Supercars'
2015 pre-season test day which saw V8 Supercar drivers, such as 2014 12 Hour-winner Lowndes, forced to take part in the test day and be unable to race in the 12 Hour.
With an increasing focus on the outright GT3 cars and a dwindling number of production cars in the race, the former organisers of the 12 Hour, Yeehah Events, announced the production car-based ''
Bathurst 6 Hour
The Bathurst Motor Festival is an annual motor racing event held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia during the Easter long weekend. The event was first held in 2011 as a replacement for the Festival of Spor ...
'' for 2016, to restore a Bathurst endurance race for the production category. The 6 Hour is now part of the
Bathurst Motor Festival
The Bathurst Motor Festival is an annual motor racing event held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia during the Easter long weekend. The event was first held in 2011 as a replacement for the Festival of Spor ...
at Easter.
Intercontinental GT Challenge
The
2016 race was the inaugural race of the newly formed
Intercontinental GT Challenge
The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations.
Format
The series is aimed ...
, which in its first year also included the
Sepang 12 Hours
The Sepang 12 Hours (formerly known as the Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race and Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race), was a 12 Hours endurance racing event held annually between 2000 and 2016 at the Sepang International Circuit on December in Mal ...
and
Spa 24 Hours
The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies.
History
The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...
and is managed by the
Stéphane Ratel Organisation
SRO Motorsports Group (formerly the Stéphane Ratel Organisation) is an international sporting organisation best known for promoting and running a variety of racing events and series, including the Total 24 Hours of Spa, Intercontinental GT Chal ...
. The event itself saw record pace from
Shane van Gisbergen
Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins ( 2016, 2021, ...
in qualifying and the race to lead his
Tekno Autosports
Tekno Autosports was an Australian motor racing team, established in the 1990s initially for the motor racing activities of Stephen Webb, and later his son Jonathon Webb. The team competes in the Supercars Championship using two Holden ZB Commod ...
McLaren 650S GT3
The McLaren 650S is a British sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive. It was announced in February 2014 as a new model, but based on the existing MP4-12C with 25% new parts, and was formally ...
to victory alongside
McLaren factory driver
Álvaro Parente
Álvaro Parente (born 4 October 1984) is a Portuguese professional racing driver.
Career
Early career
After winning the Karting European Junior Championship in 1998, Porto-born Parente made his debut in auto racing in 2001 at the age of 16, ...
and Tekno team owner/driver
Jonathon Webb. The
2017 event saw the introduction of an all-pro GT3 class for the first time, with the race receiving 55 entries, the highest in the event's revival. In the race itself, Maranello Motorsport repeated their 2014 triumph, with Finnish driver
Toni Vilander
Toni Markus Vilander (born 25 July 1980) is a Finnish professional racing driver who currently drives for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team in various categories of sports car racing.
After a single-seater career which reached the level of the ...
teaming up with Lowndes and
Jamie Whincup
Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden ZB Commodore, won a rec ...
to receive the
Australian Tourist Trophy
The Australian Tourist Trophy is a Confederation of Australian Motor Sport-sanctioned national motor racing title, contested between 1956 and 1979 by Sports Cars and, since 2007, by GT cars. The trophy is currently awarded to the outright winner ...
, which became the perpetual trophy for the outright winner.
The
2018 race finished before the twelve hour duration due to a major crash at Sulman Park involving
Ash Walsh,
Bryce Fullwood
Bryce Fullwood (born 11 May 1998 in Darwin, Australia) is an Australian racing driver currently racing in the Repco Supercars Championship with Brad Jones Racing in the No. 14 Holden ZB Commodore.
In 2019, Fullwood won the Dunlop Super2 Serie ...
and
John Martin which saw Walsh and Martin transported to hospital. This meant that the
Audi Sport Team WRT entry of
Robin Frijns
Robin Frijns (born 7 August 1991) is a Dutch motor racing driver. He is the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion, and the first driver to have won the series in his debut season since Robert Kubica in 2005. Frijns is currently competing in F ...
,
Stuart Leonard and
Dries Vanthoor
Dries Vanthoor (born 20 April 1998 in Heusden-Zolder) is a racing driver from Belgium. He currently competes in the GT World Challenge Europe and ADAC GT Masters for Audi. He is the younger brother of Laurens, and was the winner of the 2018 Ba ...
took the flag, despite doubts over whether they had the fuel to win the race if there was no disruption. In 2019, the
race
Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to:
* Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species
* Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...
had unprecedented amounts of green flag running leading to a distance record being set. After dropping from first to fourth in the final pit-stop phase,
Matt Campbell completed three overtakes, including one on
Chaz Mostert that required a post-race investigation, to take
Porsche's first victory in the race alongside
Dennis Olsen and
Dirk Werner
Dirk Werner (born 25 May 1981 in Hannover, Lower Saxony) is a German Porsche factory racing driver.
Born in Hannover, Werner was 2007 and 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series champion for Farnbacher-Loles Racing driving a Porsche 911 and fini ...
. The
2020 race again broke the distance record with
Bentley taking their first victory in the event in six attempts. The field was reduced by five cars prior to the race with several heavy crashes in practice and qualifying.
Impact of COVID-19
In October 2020, the 2021 race was cancelled, predominantly due to the
international travel restrictions caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
in Australia. Supercars, part-owners of the event, instead ran the
Mount Panorama 500
The Mount Panorama 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Repco Mount Panorama 500) was a Supercars Championship motor racing event held in 2021 at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. The event is not intended to ...
in February as the opening round of the
2021 Supercars Championship
The 2021 Supercars Championship (commercially known as the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship) was a motor racing series for Supercars. It was the twenty-third running of the Supercars Championship and the twenty-fifth series in which Supercars ...
. After further COVID-19 concerns, the 2022 race was delayed from February to May. The 2022 event also featured several major regulation changes, including the removal of the all-professional class for the first time since 2016. Twenty cars entered the race, which featured extended pre-dawn running, cooler temperatures and rolling fog due to the autumn date, plus intermittent rain throughout the day. Having finished second in 2018,
Kenny Habul, who owns a property on Conrod Straight, led his SunEnergy1 Racing team to victory. The driver line-up included
Jules Gounon who won the event in consecutive runnings, having been part of the Bentley line-up in 2020.
Winners
''Events which were not held at Mount Panorama Circuit are indicated by a pink background.''
;Notes
– The 1995 race was staged at
Eastern Creek Raceway as the
1995 Eastern Creek 12 Hour
The 1995 Eastern Creek 12 Hour was an endurance race for GT Production Cars. The event was staged at the Eastern Creek Raceway in New South Wales, Australia on 27 August 1995. The field was divided into the following six classes:
*Class A : S ...
.
– The 2010 race was
red flagged for approximately an hour after a tree fell across Conrod Straight and had to be removed.
– The 2018 race was
red flagged on lap 273 following a multi-car accident at Sulman Park at 5:25 PM, with twenty minutes remaining in the race. As the debris was unable to be cleared to allow the race to restart before the deadline of 5:43 PM (race regulations state the race starts at 5:45 AM and ends with one full completed lap once the leader crosses the finish line after 5:43 PM), the race results were backdated to lap 271 meaning that two of the three cars involved in the incident were classified.
– Race record for laps & distance covered.
Multiple winners
By driver
By manufacturer
Allan Simonsen Pole Position Trophy
In 2014, a trophy was introduced for the fastest time in qualifying, named after
Allan Simonsen
Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barc ...
who died at the
2013 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 81st 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''81e 24 Heures du Mans'') was a 24-hour automobile endurance racing event for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 19 to 23 June 2013 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close ...
. Simonsen, who had raced several times in Australia as part of a long and varied career, held the Bathurst 12 Hour race lap record at the time, as well as driving the fastest officially timed lap around Mount Panorama in a closed-wheel car.
The introduction of the trophy coincided with the relaxing of qualifying restrictions from previous years, with the removal of the minimum allowed lap time (two minutes and six seconds), therefore allowing a major improvement in qualifying times.
Despite the name, the trophy is given to the fastest qualifying time, not the car that starts on pole position in the case of a grid penalty, as initially occurred in 2019.
In 2014, Simonsen's former team at the 12 Hour, Maranello Motorsport, narrowly missed pole to
Maro Engel by less than a tenth of a second. Maranello went on to win the race itself. In 2015,
Laurens Vanthoor
Laurens Vanthoor (; born 8 May 1991) is a Belgian professional racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He currently resides in Waiblingen outside of Stuttgart.
...
set the fastest ever officially recorded time of Mount Panorama in qualifying. This time was only to last twelve months, with Shane van Gisbergen beating the time by over one second in qualifying for the 2016 race. In 2017 a top ten shootout was introduced, as per the Bathurst 1000, with the fastest time winning the trophy. In 2018,
Chaz Mostert became the first Australian to take the trophy as well as making BMW the fifth manufacturer to win the trophy in the five years since its inception.
The 2019 battle for the trophy had several twists, with the
Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 of
Jake Dennis initially taking the trophy after setting the fastest time in the Top 10 Shootout, despite a two-place grid penalty that he had earlier received for pit-lane speeding.
Later, the car was excluded from the Top 10 Shootout for a technical infringement, granting the trophy to the
Mercedes-AMG GT3
The Mercedes-AMG GT (C190 / R190) is a grand tourer produced in coupé and roadster bodystyles by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-AMG. The car was introduced on and was officially unveiled to the public in October 2014 at the Paris M ...
of
Raffaele Marciello
Raffaele "Lello" Marciello (; born 17 December 1994) is a Swiss-born Italian professional racing driver. A former member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, he was the 2013 European Formula Three Champion, a reserve and test driver for the Sauber F ...
. On the race's return in 2022 from a one-year hiatus, the one-lap shootout was replaced by two fifteen minute sessions due to concerns over low tyre temperature, the first for 6th to 10th and the second from 1st to 5th in the earlier qualifying session. Over the sessions, Chaz Mostert became the first driver to win the trophy for the second occasion, taking pole by the smallest margin in the race's history.
Broadcasts
In the early days of the race in the 1990s, the race was broadcast on free-to-air television by
Network Ten.
On the race's return, the race was broadcast initially as a highlights package on
SBS as well as being
streamed online. In 2012, the event received its first live coverage since the 1990s, with
pay television network Speed
In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (ma ...
airing the final 90 minutes of the race, as well as producing a three-hour highlights package. Since the 2013 event, which was not broadcast live on television, commentary has been provided by Radio Show Limited who broadcast every session live on
Radio Le Mans
Radio Le Mans is the English language radio service for the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, as well as for numerous other sports car events.
It first broadcast at the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans.
History
The commentary was broadcast on local ('special ev ...
, building an international audience for the event. In 2014, RSL provided their commentary to SBS, who broadcast the final three hours of the race live on free-to-air.
From 2015 onwards, the entire race has been broadcast live on the
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...
and
7mate
7mate is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel, which was launched by the Seven Network on 25 September 2010. The channel contains sport and regular programs aimed primarily to a male audience, with programming drawn from a c ...
, still in partnership with RSL, and has continued to be streamed online. In 2020 and 2022, pay television channel
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world.
The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...
and its
streaming service
Kayo Sports
Kayo Sports is an over-the-top video streaming subscription service available in Australia, owned by Streamotion ( a wholly owned subsidiary of Foxtel). The service offers sports live and on demand from Fox Sports, ESPN, beIN Sports, and Racin ...
broadcast the event in addition to 7mate.
The estimated viewing audience for the 2014 race was over half a million people from 150 countries.
Event sponsors
* 1991–94:
James Hardie
* 2007–09: Wright Patton Shakespeare (WPS)
* 2010–12:
Armor All
Armor All is an American brand of car care products that is manufactured by American company Armored AutoGroup of Danbury, Connecticut, United States. The company markets the product line of sprays, gels, liquids, and wipes to clean, shine, and ...
* 2013–2020, 2022–:
Liqui Moly
Liqui Moly GmbH is a German company specializing in oils, lubricants and additives. As of January 1, 2018, Liqui Moly is part of the Würth Group which bought the remaining shares of the previous majority holder and CEO Ernst Prost. He now is ...
See also
*
Bathurst 24 Hour
The Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales in 2002 and 2003. Only two races were held before the collapse of the management organisation PROCAR. Both ...
*
Bathurst 1000
The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rece ...
*
Bathurst 6 Hour
The Bathurst Motor Festival is an annual motor racing event held at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia during the Easter long weekend. The event was first held in 2011 as a replacement for the Festival of Spor ...
References
External links
*
{{Automobile endurance races
Motorsport in Bathurst, New South Wales
Sports car races
Touring car races
Endurance motor racing
Auto races in Australia
24H Series