CHANGES to the rules for next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour to allow an all-professional class for the first time is likely to lure Supercars star Mark Winterbottom to Mount Panorama.
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The defending Supercars champion has enjoyed racing at the iconic 6.213 kilometre track each October in the Great Race, but until the 12 Hour rule changed, had not considered the GT event.
In the past teams competing in the 12 Hour were allowed a maximum of two professional/seeded drivers.
The Pro-Am class will remain in 2017, but the headline act for the February event will now be the all-professional entries.
Already it has been confirmed that Winterbottom’s fellow Supercars competitors Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes will join a factory Ferrari driver in that class in Maranello Motorsport’s Ferrari 488 GT3.
Winterbottom is tipped to join Steve Richards, his 2013 Bathurst 1000 winning co-driver, in a BMW M6 GT3.
“The opportunity to have all pro line-ups changes it for me. Not being disrespectful, but the Pro-Am stuff never appealed to me,” Winterbottom told Speedcafe.com.
“What we do in Supercars chews up a lot of your time, so you don’t want to just race for the sake of it. But when you can team up as all pros and go hard, that’s made it more appealing.”
