THE field for the 2022 Bathurst 12 Hour has been revealed – and it’s definitely a case of quality over quantity.
Only 20 cars have been entered for this year’s event, the first held since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
The 2021 race was cancelled outright, while this year’s race was originally scheduled for March before being pushed back to May.
RETURN: Bathurst 12 Hour to race on traditional date in 2023
Both proposed dates fall well after the event’s traditional early February slot, which fell into a quiet part of the international GT racing calendar and allowed overseas teams to take part.
Race organisers Supercars made key changes for the 2022 event to offset the reduction in entries from international teams.
The outright class will be contested by Pro-Am driver lineups for the first time since 2016, while Super3 cars were made eligible for the Invitational Class alongside MARC Cars and GTC Sports Cars, although no examples of the older Supercars have been entered.
“Considering the challenging environment in which we are staging the race this year, we are pleased with the field,” Paul Martin, motorsport operations manager for the event, said.
“There was no shying away from the fact that this was going to be a challenging year to run the event, but we were committed to putting on the show and we are confident that it will be a very good race based on the field we have.
“It might not be the largest field in Bathurst 12 Hour history, however it is extremely high quality.”
Despite the small grid, the quality of the entries in the outright class should present an entertaining battle for the win.
The 12 cars entered for the outright Pro-Am class includes six 2022-specification Audi R8 EVO cars piloted by top Supercars drivers and Audi factory drivers from overseas.
Four Mercedes AMG GT3 cars will serve as Audi’s chief opposition.
The local contingent will be led by Triple Eight Race Engineering’s entry for Shane van Gisbergen, Broc Feeney and Prince Jefri Ibrahim, while the Supercars squad will also run the SunEnergy1 entry for Aussie ex-pat Kenny Habul, Martin Konrad, Luca Stolz and reigning victor Jules Gounon, who won the most recent Bathurst 12 Hour held with Bentley.
Erebus Motorsport Supercars pairing Will Brown and Jack Perkins will also share a car in the 12 Hour, joining Mark Griffith in his Mercedes AMG GT3.
The Hong Kong-based Craft Bamboo Racing also return with AMG factory support, and its driver lineup will be led by familiar face Maro Engel – the 2014 polesitter, who did a season of Supercars with Erebus in 2013 – fellow factory star Daniel Juncadella, and Kevin Tse.
A Porsche 911 GT3R from Grove Racing and a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 from Wall Racing complete the outright Pro-Am contenders.
“We are thrilled with the way teams have embraced our changes this year, changes that have been designed to support the ‘Am’ drivers as best as possible,” Martin added.
“The quality and depth of talent throughout the grid is already world class, with several of the key international names yet to be unveiled. The local names already confirmed are among the best drivers in the country and they will put on a show.
“There’s no doubt in our minds that this year will be another memorable chapter in the history of the Bathurst 12 Hour.”
The grid represents the smallest field size since the event shifted focus to GT cars in 2011 when 26 cars started the race, however less than half of that field consisted of genuine GT cars.
ENTRY LIST: 2022 Bathurst 12 Hour
No. | Drivers | Car | Team | Class | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Stephen Grove | Brenton Grove | Benjamin Barker | Porsche 911 GT3R | Grove Racing | Class A Pro-Am | |
6 | Tony D’Alberto | David Wall | Adrian Deitz | Grant Denyer | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | Wall Racing | Class A Pro-Am |
9 | Marc Cini | Lee Holdsworth | Dean Fiore | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | Hallmarc | Class A Pro-Am | |
17 | Mark Rosser | Nick Percat | Joseph Mawson | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | Team BRM | Class A Pro-Am | |
19 | Mark Griffith | Will Brown | Jack Perkins | Mercedes AMG GT3 | Nineteen Corporation Pty Ltd | Class A Pro-Am | |
24 | Tony Bates | David Reynolds | Cameron Waters | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | TBA | Class A Pro-Am | |
65 | Liam Talbot | Fraser Ross | Chaz Mostert | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | Coinspot | Class A Pro-Am | |
74 | Brad Schumacher | Nathanaël Berthon | Kelvin van der Linde | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | Audi Sport Team Valvoline | Class A Pro-Am | |
75 | Kenny Habul | Martin Konrad | Jules Gounon | Luca Stolz | Mercedes AMG GT3 | SunEnergy1 Racing | Class A Pro-Am |
91 | Maro Engel | Daniel Juncadella | Kevin Tse | Mercedes AMG GT3 | Mercedes-AMG Team Craft-Bamboo Racing | Class A Pro-Am | |
777 | Yasser Shahin | Markus Winkelhock | Ricardo Feller | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | Audi Sport Team Valvoline | Class A Pro-Am | |
888 | Prince Jefri Ibrahim | Broc Feeney | Shane van Gisbergen | Mercedes AMG GT3 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Class A Pro-Am | |
45 | Michael Sheargold | Garth Walden | Brett Hobson | Mercedes AMG GT3 | RAM Motorsport | Class A Am | |
47 | James Koundouris | Theo Koundouris | David Russell | Paul Stokell | Audi R8 GT3 Evo II | Supabarn | Class A Am |
55 | Marcel Zalloua | Sergio Pires | Duvashen Padayachee | Mercedes AMG GT3 | Valmont Racing | Class A Am | |
11 | Indiran Padayachee | Eric Constantindis | Aaron Zerefos | Porsche 991 GT3 Gen II | Our Kloud-UpTo11 Motorsport | Class C Porsche Cup | |
222 | Alex Davison | Geoff Emery | Craig Lowndes | Porsche 991 GT3 Gen II | Scott Taylor Motorsport | Class C Porsche Cup | |
50 | David Crampton | Trent Harrison | Glen Wood | Dale Wood | KTM X-Bow GT2 | M Motorsport/ Vantage Racing | Invitational |
52 | Keith Kassulke | Hadrian Morall | Zane Morse | MARC II V8 | Wheels/ FX Racing PNG | Invitational | |
95 | Geoffrey Taunton | Jake Camilleri | Declan Fraser | MARC II V8 | MARC Cars Australia | Invitational |