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Bathurst Motor Festival

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The Bathurst Motor Festival is held at the Mount Panorama Circuit.

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.[1] The event was first held in 2011 as a replacement for the Festival of Sporting Cars and as a way to give a higher number of drivers the opportunity to drive on the circuit.[2] The event plays host to a variety of racing categories, including production cars, sports cars, open-wheel racing cars and historic cars, which take part in sprint races, endurance races and regularity sessions.[3] Around 300 vehicles are entered for the event each year, with crowds of up to and over 10,000 people attending the event.[1][3][4] Car clubs also attend the event, displaying their cars within the confines of the circuit and performing parade laps.[5] Since 2016, the Bathurst 6 Hour production car race has been the showpiece race of the event.[6]

History

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The start of a one-hour Production Sports race at the 2015 Bathurst Motor Festival.
The start of a TCR Australia race during the 2021 event.

During the 2014 event, Formula 3 driver Simon Hodge set a new lap record for the circuit of 2:02.6701.[7] Hodge's time remained as the lap record until the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, where Shane van Gisbergen set a time of 2:01.567 in a McLaren 650S GT3.[8]

During the 2016 event, Nathan Morcom and 2014 Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert won the inaugural Bathurst 6 Hour, which also saw the event's biggest weekend crowd to date.[4] In winning the 2017 Bathurst 6 Hour, Paul Morris, driving with Luke Searle, became the first driver to win all of the three current major events at Mount Panorama; the 6 Hour, the Bathurst 1000, which he won in 2014 with Mostert, and the Bathurst 12 Hour, which he won in 2007 and 2010.[9]

Racing categories

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The following categories have raced at the Bathurst Motor Festival.[3][10][11][12][13][14]

Bathurst 6 Hour

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Bathurst 6 Hour
VenueMount Panorama Circuit
Corporate sponsorHi-Tec Oils
First race2016
Duration6 hours
Most wins (driver)Australia Jayden Ojeda (2)
Australia Simon Hodges (2)
Most wins (manufacturer)BMW (8)
The start of the 2016 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour.
As of 2024, BMW has won every running of the race. Pictured is the M3 F80 Competition of 2019 winners Beric Lynton and Tim Leahey.

The Bathurst 6 Hour, currently known as the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is a race for Group 3E Series Production Cars and other invited cars that has been held as part of the Festival since 2016. The race is held on Easter Sunday, with practice and qualifying sessions taking place on the preceding two days.

History

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The race is not to be confused with the 1962 Bathurst Six Hour Classic, a one-off event held for production touring and sports cars.

The Bathurst 12 Hour was an endurance race held for production cars from 1991 to 1995. It was revived in 2007 and continued as a production car-only race until 2010, before GT3 cars were made eligible for the race in 2011. Over the following years there was growing focus on the outright GT3 cars, while the number of production cars in the race declined. In April 2015, the former promoters of the 12 Hour, Yeehah Events, announced a six-hour race for Group 3E Series Production Cars, called the Bathurst 6 Hour, to be held at the Bathurst Motor Festival in 2016.[6] Cars conforming to other regulations, such as V8 Utes and Saloon Cars, were also allowed to compete in the Invitational class.[15]

The 2020 running of the race was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was to be part of the inaugural Bathurst International event in November,[16] however this event, along with the 6 Hour, was eventually cancelled due to border closures within Australia arising from the pandemic.[17] The 6 Hour returned to its traditional Easter date in 2021.

Class structure

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Entrants in the Bathurst 6 Hour are divided into six classes:

  • Class X: Ultimate Performance
  • Class A1: Extreme Performance (Forced Induction)
  • Class A2: Extreme Performance (Naturally Aspirated)
  • Class B1: High Performance (Forced Induction)
  • Class B2: High Performance (Naturally Aspirated)
  • Class C: Performance
  • Class D: Production
  • Class E: Compact

Winners

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Year Drivers Vehicle Entrant Laps Distance
2016 Australia Nathan Morcom
Australia Chaz Mostert 		BMW 335i E92 Australia Direct Plasterboard Outlet 125 776.625 km (482.572 mi)
2017 Australia Luke Searle
Australia Paul Morris 		BMW M135i Hatch F20 Australia Roadchill Freight Express 113 702.069 km (436.245 mi)
2018 Australia Grant Sherrin
Australia Iain Sherrin 		BMW M4 F82 Australia Sherrin Rentals 109 677.217 km (420.803 mi)
2019 Australia Beric Lynton
Australia Tim Leahey 		BMW M3 F80 Competition Australia Bruce Lynton Bodyshop 1311 813.903 km (505.736 mi)
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Australia Shane Smollen
Australia Robert Rubis
New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen 		BMW M4 F82 Australia Prestige Connex 120 745.560 km (463.270 mi)
2022 Australia Thomas Sargent
Australia Cameron Hill 		BMW M2 Competition Australia CHE Racing 130 807.690 km (501.875 mi)
2023 Australia Jayden Ojeda
Australia Simon Hodges 		BMW M4 F82 Australia Secure Wealth Advisers 112 695.856 km (432.385 mi)
2024 Australia Jayden Ojeda
Australia Simon Hodges
Australia George Miedecke 		BMW M4 F82 Australia Secure Wealth Advisers 123 764.199 km (474.851 mi)
Source:[18]

^1 – Race record for laps & distance covered.

Multiple winners

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By manufacturer

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Wins Manufacturer Years
8 Germany BMW 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Source:[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Bathurst Motor Festival". Bathurst Regional Council. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  2. ^ "Bathurst Revs up for Easter Event". Bathurst Motor Festival. 18 November 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c "Successful Motor Festival Ends With Big Sunday". Bathurst Motor Festival. 31 March 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  4. ^ a b "Mostert/Morcom win Bathurst 6 Hour". Speedcafe. 27 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Car Clubs". Bathurst Motor Festival. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Green light for Bathurst Easter 6 Hour race". Speedcafe. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  7. ^ "Anthony wins again as Bathurst record smashed". Speedcafe. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  8. ^ Dale, Will (7 February 2016). "Shane van Gisbergen leads McLaren to victory in 2016 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour". Fox Sports. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  9. ^ "Paul Morris reflects on Bathurst triple crown". Speedcafe. 16 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Big day at the races as Motor Festival concludes". Bathurst Motor Festival. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  11. ^ "Record Breaking Sunday at Bathurst Motor Festival". Bathurst Motor Festival. 8 April 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  12. ^ "Spectacular Bathurst Motor Festival Ends in Style". Bathurst Motor Festival. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  13. ^ "Motor Festival Concludes in the Bathurst Sun". Bathurst Motor Festival. 5 April 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  14. ^ "2016 Results". Bathurst Motor Festival. 27 March 2016. Archived from the original on 29 March 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Entries Set to Flow for Bathurst 6 Hour". Bathurst Motor Festival. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  16. ^ "Bathurst 6 Hour Re-scheduled". Bathurst 6 Hour. 17 March 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  17. ^ "Bathurst International cancelled for 2020". Speedcafe. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Bathurst 6 Hour Winners". Mount Panorama Circuit. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
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