2023 Bathurst 12 Hour

[Kytabu]

A return to early February, the return of the Pro class...looking forward to the 12 Hour getting back to its prime. Manthey and WRT have confirmed their entries, looking forward to see which other international teams will make the trip next year.

Reports that Valentino Rossi might drive one of the WRT BMWs; that would be huge!

[Sonic]

Hopefully the roads to the track are better by then! Otherwise the overseas drivers might get halfway and think "oh hell no" and go back to the airport

[Kytabu]

Really looking forward to this now! Rossi has been confirmed and Red Bull are bringing an RB7 over for demonstration laps!

Entries so far:
# 32 Pro      BMW M Team WRT                      BMW M4 GT3          Dries Vanthoor/Charles Weerts/Sheldon van der Linde
# 46 Pro      BMW M Team WRT                      BMW M4 GT3          Valentino Rossi/Maxime Martin/Augusto Farfus
#101 Pro-Am   Harrolds Volante Rosso Motorsport   Mercedes-AMG GT3    Ross Poulakis/TBA
#222 Pro-Am   Scott Taylor Motorsport             Mercedes-AMG GT3    Craig Lowndes/Scott Taylor/Alex Davison/Geoff Emery
#888 Pro      Triple Eight Race Engineering       Mercedes-AMG GT3    Shane van Gisbergen/Broc Feeney/Maximilian Gotz
#999 Pro      GruppeM Racing                      Mercedes-AMG GT3    TBA
     Pro      Manthey EMA                         Porsche 911 GT3 R   TBA

[V8SuperRiley]

Danny Ric is meant to be doing the demo laps too.. pretty awesome!

[Kytabu]

Liam Lawson will be driving the RB7 this weekend...a little disappointing that it'll only be doing one session but cannot wait to see a modern F1 car at the Mountain.

It's not a massive field for the 12 Hour and not much variety in terms of manufacturers, but still hoping for a good race. There's definitely a number of Pro-Am combinations that could take outright victory over the Pro Class; even Mostert's Audi in the Silver class could take the win if they play their driver strategy well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Bathurst_12_Hour#Entries

[Sonic]

going through the schedule... wondering what exactly we're going to get in the 30 min B12 demonstration on Fri @ 21450? and Sat @ 1325 and 1700? guessing perhaps cars will have cameras on them doing laps for tv for over the weekend? or maybe we'll get lucky and have more than just the 1 f1 session after all?

[mikeamerica84]

As of this point I am still managing my way through the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona (no spoliers, please) but I am REALLY looking forward to the Bathurst 12 Hours.  That place half a globe away just draaaaaaawwwwwws my attention.

[Kytabu]

going through the schedule... wondering what exactly we're going to get in the 30 min B12 demonstration on Fri @ 21450? and Sat @ 1325 and 1700? guessing perhaps cars will have cameras on them doing laps for tv for over the weekend? or maybe we'll get lucky and have more than just the 1 f1 session after all?

Based on all the articles the F1 is only doing the Saturday 1325 demonstration session. IIRC the end-of-day ones last year were for road cars, so possibly the same this year.

Will have a drink for you on the campsite Mike!

[mikeamerica84]

Will have a drink for you on the campsite Mike!

WHy thank you, Kye!  As I sit here typing, looking out the window at the snow covered ground and barely two digit ferenheit temperatures, your gesture warms my heart. 

Time to finish watching Daytona before then, though!  My VCR is going to get a workout today!

[skaifeman]

Pretty quiet race so far. Watching on TV, those opening laps are awesome as the sun rises.
Looking like a battle between the two Merc's and Porsche for top honours.

I must say, Rossi has been impressive. He comes with a big name so will always garner more attention, and he's done well!

[SetonFan]

Awesome finish - especially impressive as it didn't happen because of safety cars. Shame it couldn't go for a few more laps.

[LG]

Awesome finish - especially impressive as it didn't happen because of safety cars. Shame it couldn't go for a few more laps.

Why? Isn't 12hrs long enough for a 12hr race?

[SetonFan]

Awesome finish - especially impressive as it didn't happen because of safety cars. Shame it couldn't go for a few more laps.

Why? Isn't 12hrs long enough for a 12hr race?

With Engel closing in on the top 2 at a second a lap it would have been fascinating to see what happened next.

[LG]

Awesome finish - especially impressive as it didn't happen because of safety cars. Shame it couldn't go for a few more laps.

Why? Isn't 12hrs long enough for a 12hr race?

With Engel closing in on the top 2 at a second a lap it would have been fascinating to see what happened next.

So you mean a woulda, coulda shoulda situation.
Maro drove well but paid the price for a move that was never on.

[meha]

A intriguing race up front that changed during the day but was really a race between about 4-5 cars at most.

Also, set a new distance record at over 2000km! that is a huge amount of racing in 12 hours and with not a lot of safety cars.