WHILE the field for next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour is yet to be finalised, the endurance event looks likely to attract the strongest roster of drivers ever to tackle Mount Panorama at the same time.
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When the 58-car provisional entry list was released earlier this week, not only were some of the big names of Australian motor sport included, but international talents as well.
According to Bathurst 12 Hour media manager Richard Crail, “it’s mega”.
“It’s a really impressive entry list, it’s got the potential when all the drivers are eventually confirmed, to be one of the best entry lists ever seen at the Mount,” he said.
“I can’t ever remember a field with such depth.”
With the Bathurst 12 Hour no longer clashing with Supercars pre-season testing and being included as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, it has increased the potential of the event to attract big name drivers.
In 2017 the event will also allow teams to use exclusively professional driving combinations for the first time.
That ruling has seen some formidable driver line-ups revealed already, with Supercars stars jumping at the chance to do another race at Mount Panorama.
“Next year to have Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup, who are two of the biggest names in the sport, driving a Ferrari is fantastic,” Crail said.
“You have Shane van Gisbergen, the new [Supercars] champion in a Mercedes, then you have got legends Mark Skaife, Russell Ingall, Tony Longhurst, Steve Richards – I could go on until I am blue in the face.
“This is great opportunity to see these guys go head-to-head with some of the best GT drivers in the world, which is something they don’t normally get the chance to do.”
As Crail indicated, it is not just big names of the Supercars series who will take on next year’s 12 Hour.
Former Formula 1 driver Ivan Capelli, this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Marco Lieb and factory BMW duo Timo Glock and Marco Whittmann will be at Mount Panorama for the February 3-5 event.
“US [United States] team Competition Motorsport have just announced that they are going to run at Bathurst and they are bringing Patrick Long and Marc Lieb, who are both factory Porsche drivers and manufacturers don’t throw around factory drivers willy nilly,” Crail said.
“There is going to be a good mix of well known Australian and New Zealand drivers along with internationals who might not be as well known, but are very talented drivers.”
