THE 2018 Bathurst 6 Hour is building as another thriller thanks to strong entry interest in all major classes.
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A total of 56 cars feature on an early entry list confirmed by event organisers this week, one extra than at the same time last year.
While the A1 (extreme performance/forced induction) class dominates many of the headlines and sports the largest field, entries are spread evenly throughout the other classes, with at least four cars confirmed in each at this point.
Entries do not close until February 23, 2018.
“As the race continues to develop, our focus is on attracting new and more current models to the grid, as well as growing the competition across each of the classes,” event director James O’Brien said.
“Once again we are very pleased with the reaction from Production Car competitors from across Australia and all the signs are already pointing to another highly competitive affair next Easter.”
A1 class cars dominated the 2017 Bathurst 6 Hour this Easter, a race won by Luke Searle and Paul Morris in a BMW M135i.
Though the Searle family team is yet to confirm their plans for the 2018 race, the outright field includes the return of the Ford Focus RS driven to second place by Chaz Mostert and Nathan Morcom this year.
The traditional spread of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions and BMW will again be joined by cars like the Subaru Impreza WRX STi, Audi TTRS and Mercedes-Benz AMG A45.
The Sherrin Racing outfit has confirmed the return of their BMW M4, a car that this year set new Production Car class qualifying and race lap records.
Australian Muscle Cars continue to be wildly popular, with no less than 11 different Holden or HSV Commodores entered in the A2 and B2 categories for rear-wheel drive cars.
The B1 category includes a new VW Golf R entered by long-time racer Trevor Keene, a car that is likely to pose a challenge to the regular class benchmarks from BMW and Subaru.
Nine cars are confirmed in Class C for production – performance vehicles, including Peter Lacey’s VW Scirocco R and several examples of the quick Renault Megane RS265.
A lone Honda Integra will tackle five of the popular Toyota 86s in Class D, while the ‘baby’ car class E continues to grow as an ideal entry point to endurance racing at Mount Panorama.
Meanwhile, tickets are now on sale for the March 30 to April 1 event next year.event and can be purchased online via the Bathurst 6 Hour website. Sunday general admission ticket prices are $20 if purchased online, while three-day general admission tickets can be purchased online for $40.