THE National Sports Sedan Series is set to return to the Bathurst 1000 support card for the first time in over 30 years.
Series organisers have named the Repco-backed October 5-8 event as the fifth and final round on its 2023 schedule.
Bathurst will be one of two appearances for the series alongside the Supercars Championship, as it starts its year with the Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains on May (19-21).
Subsequent rounds are scheduled for Winton (SpeedSeries, June 9-11), Queensland Raceway (MA Trophy Series, August 4-6) and Sydney Motorsport Park (Sydney Master Blast, September 9-10).
Category director Michael Robinson said the return of Sports Sedans to the October Bathurst meeting is a win for the class, which supported Supercars at Winton and The Bend this year.
“Obviously the faith that they are showing us is being rewarded by the invitation to race on the Bathurst 1000 event, and it proves that we have been putting on a great show,” he said.
“I have to thank the drivers and teams for being so committed to this year’s season and proving that Sports Sedans have a place on some great high-profile events.”
The National Sports Sedan Series last ran at the Bathurst 1000 in 1992; a round dominated by Keith Carling’s Nissan 300ZX.
This year’s Sports Sedan title was won by Jordan Caruso aboard John Gourlay’s Chevrolet-powered Audi A4.
Robinson enthused about the prospect of new cars joining the series next year.
“With the series starting in mid-May we expect plenty of cars being capable of racing, with several competitors returning to the series, as well as several new cars being built now that are getting close to the finish of their builds,” he said.
“We look forward to our 2022 series champion Jordan Caruso to be at the front of the field again but expect him to be challenged with lots of competitive equipment in the field.
“We think we will see several new cars appear during the 2023 series, and hopefully most of them being close to finished in the time for the first event.
“That includes John Gourlay’s second Audi he has been building for a couple of years, Daniel Tamasi’s second Nissan and the Ingram brothers have a beautiful Mazda RX7 being built.
“We are waiting for Tony Ricciardello, who has been preparing cars over the last couple of years and have not got confirmation yet but would like to see him.”
Robinson hopes that multiple Supercars drivers will compete in the class at non-clashing events next year.
Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner made Sports Sedan cameos in 2022 aboard a Chev-powered Aston Martin DBR9.
