2020 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour (Jan 31 - Feb 2)

[one five five]

Back to a three day program in 2020 from a one-off four day program in 2019. Hopefully this will plug some of the empty gaps, particularly on the Saturday

Talk on socials that the Invitation class has been canned for 2020...... Does this mean a further move towards ultimately a GT3 only race which will please some and dis enchant others further?

Will the race being a part of the IGTC attract good numbers of overseas entries?

Will there be increase in the number of local GT3 cars entered, as they have dropped in recent years?

Will GT4 numbers increase assuming they are included as a class? What about the Porsche Cup Car class?

Will the new GT2 class from SRO feature in the race?

Will a TCR class feature, particularly if ARG are unsuccessful in their bid for the fifth Bathurst event slot?

What support events? Can we have Improved Production back please?
A Super2 round?

Will the crowds continue to grow?

Plenty to talk about

[joeyt]

well already got my camp site booked and tickets

[D.R.T.]

Can’t say a Super2 round is that motivating.

Keep FFord, combined sedans, Group S and maybe throw in TCR.

[one five five]

The 2019 winner has been bought by Paul Tressider, but looks like it won't be seen at the 12hr next year.

Camp site sales seem to be very strong for next year at this early stage

[D.R.T.]

And the slide continues

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/08/08...hurst-12-hour/

[gert]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

And the slide continues

https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/08/08...hurst-12-hour/

That's SRO gaining power and enforcing their rules.

[D.R.T.]

Struggle to see how the pit stop rules help the event, it’s has lost so much in one rule change.

[one five five]

We're these rule changes required by SRO to stay as part of the IGTC?

[Tourer]

Could be. Judging from the statement in the linked article, it was either "suggested" or mandatory for the event from SRO - apparently all of the changes have been used at other SRO events.

Tbh the 4 minute stop feels OTT until you think it through and with so many SC periods in previous years, its likely that competitors will be able to deal with that one.

The stint length restriction and reducing a driver's maximum time to 2 hours 10 minutes instead of the traditntal 2 hours 30 minutes seems strange and commentating the "Joker" pit stops and who has and hasn't taken one in the relevant half of the race won't be the work of a moment.

[gert]

They were in use at the Spa 24 hours too.
* max stint length
* min pit stop time
* 1 mandatory 'technical' stop: you're not obliged to do something technical, just put the car in the pits for 5 minutes and you're OK. (Grasser did that at Spa)

Spa is also part of the IGTC, so that may be the reason. Let's see what happens at Suzuka later this year?

SRO also has the much hated Safety-Car-after-Full-Course-Yellow-procedure which they use in all of there races (Sprint and endurance) in Europe.

[Tourer]

Changes to pit stop rules and stint lengths for 2020 rescinded: Steady as you go lads - let's run it like we're used to.

Good move I reckon, all felt a bit too contrived - clearly works at some of the races in Europe but not convinced that it would have worked that well for the 12 hour.

[one five five]

Good move. Well done to the organisers for this announcement

What does it mean for the future of the 12hr as part of the IGTC though given Anyopenroads comment about about SRO wanting to establish common rules for all IGTC events?

[Mike E]

Excellent. Now get rid of this garbage for the other races.

[Nick Woodbury]

whew!

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by one five five

Good move. Well done to the organisers for this announcement

What does it mean for the future of the 12hr as part of the IGTC though given Anyopenroads comment about about SRO wanting to establish common rules for all IGTC events?

Guess we won't know that for a while but there are sometimes differences in what is accepted in European racing and what is accepted in other parts of the world. Success ballast for drivers for example has been part of a number of different euro series over the years and barely seems to raise an eyebrow but has been rejected in a number of other countries (including here). The IGTC stint time restrictions, pit stop time requirements seem to be rolling on OK in Europe too (at least from what we can see from so far away) but weren't accepted by competitors here (don't know how many of those spoken to were from Europe though but you'd have to think that some were).

Might mean that IGTC may accept that some practices wouldn't be accepted in all markets and tailor the series accordingly, or Bathurst could be considered as a "thought leader" and by not going with the restrictions, convince IGTC that the idea isn't needed to "spice up" the racing and is maybe a step too far.

Good news to not have the contrived restrictions for 2020 and we'll find out about the future later.

[one five five]

Foxtel to show the 2020 12hr live and in full, including practice and qualifying and shootout

Simulcast of the Foxtel coverage live (race only) on FTA on Ch7.....no shootout on FTA is a major loss.

Best of both worlds for the race though, although simulcasts from Foxtel to FTA are a little clunky going by the Supercars telecasts on Ch10, a shame 7 can’t do their own coverage ala Cricket, amongst other things makes the ad break transmissions much smoother

[Maggo]

https://www.endurance-info.com/fr/12...-r-motorsport/

[Maggo]

https://www.supercars.com/news/champ...IkSzBx9x8ySx48

[mayhem]

[Mike Bell]

Where the ‘like’ button.....

[D.R.T.]

Marc Cini, Dean Fiore and Lee Holdsworth locked in again with Audi

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by mayhem

Castrol liveries are the best liveries! mmmm

[mayhem]

Matt Campbell heads up a strong Porsche lineup.

[mayhem]

Any word on where Mr Lowndes may land? Given he wasnt at Challenge Bathurst with Triple 8, I'm guessing he may be in a different car, with the view to a LM24Hr start?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by mayhem

Any word on where Mr Lowndes may land? Given he wasnt at Challenge Bathurst with Triple 8, I'm guessing he may be in a different car, with the view to a LM24Hr start?

Given the three manufacturers in GT Am at the moment I’d be guessing it’s with one of them. Doubt he’ll be in a Ferrari for B12 as it doesn’t look good on that front. So Porsche or Aston??