A DROUGHT spanning 31 years will end this morning as the National Sports Sedan Series returns to a Bathurst 1000 undercard.
Sports Sedans will kick off the 2023 Great Race event when the field hits the track for Practice 1 at 7:25am AEDT.
There’ll be all sorts of interesting cars in action, from series leader Tony Ricciardello’s Chevrolet-powered Alfa Romeo GTV to the Audi of 2022 champion Jordan Caruso.
An engine failure at Sydney Motorsport Park dumped Caruso down to third in the standings, with Ricciardello 19 points clear of nearest rival Ashley Jarvis heading into the penultimate round at Mount Panorama.
Ricciardello, a former Supercars driver, is vying for a 12th series crown.
Among other noteworthy names on the grid is Ronan Murphy, who is making his racing debut both at Bathurst and in the Sports Sedans category.
The 22-year-old is driving a MARC Ford Focus ahead of a November return to the Mountain for the Porsche Sprint Challenge season finale.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the official establishment of Sports Sedans racing in Australia.
Following its first Bathurst 1000 appearance since 1992, the series will head north later this month to compete on another Supercars undercard: the Gold Coast 500.