SUCH is the prestige of winning an endurance race at Mount Panorama Australian drivers frequently refer to it as the holy grail, but now it's a point of view international stars hold as well.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It is why this year's edition of the Bathurst 12 Hour has a bumper 40-car grid and record GT3 manufacturer representation.
Factory drivers from Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Nissan and Porsche will all do battle at the Mount.
Part of the lure is certainly that the race doubles as the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, but testing themselves at the famous 6.213 kilometre circuit is also a huge draw card.
Bathurst 12 Hour media manager Richard Craill said the strong grid is evidence of how much the event has evolved since switching from its production origins to allow GT3 specification cars for the first time in 2011.
"It's very cool every year to see the evolution of the field and how strong it gets every season and how much interest there is," Craill, who also commentates on the event, said.
"I think it reflects on the race and how important it has become internationally. This is now one of the must win races on the long distance calendar anywhere in the world. Great teams and great manufactures rock up because they want to win it, and we get an amazing field."
READ MORE: Schumacher gets a huge 12 Hour present
While the final driver rosters are yet to be revealed, Craill feels that the field for this year's event is better than anything which has been assembled over the past decade.
Considering the record 11 manufactures and 34 different GT3 vehicles which will tackle Mount Panorama from January 31, it is easy to see why he holds that opinion.
It will also mean spots on the podium will be hotly contested.
"Every year it feels like we say 'This is the best field we've ever seen', but I'll keep that line rolling because it really does, in terms of the GT component, feel like the best field we've ever seen just in terms of the depth and level of interest from manufacturers and really, really great racing teams from around the world. That's the part I really like," Craill said.
"There's going to be such a melting pot of drivers from around the world as well. We are going to have a pretty cool mix of drivers from this part of the world who are stars in Supercars that we all know, are household names, and some really gun internationals that we might not know of, but are amongst the best in their field.
"It's going to be a mega, mega field. All the hyperbole in the world, but it's going to be an epic grid of talent - like there are 21 pro cars and we've had pro-am cars on the podium the last couple of years. Throw a couple of those in and there are 25 cars which could win this thing."
