BATHURST 24H BID CONFIRMED

European promoter wants new Bathurst event to rival Le Mans and Daytona

THE ONLY foreign bidder for a fifth Bathurst event wants to create a 24 hours race at Mount Panorama with the same carnival atmosphere and prestige as the Le Mans and Daytona twice-round-the-clock classics.

By BRUCE NEWTON

Ivo Breukers, the founder and director of Holland-based endurance race promoter Creventic, told Auto Action that his organisation had big ambitions for a Bathurst 24 hours event.

“We would like to make this 24-hour race as big as the biggest races in the world, like Le Mans and Daytona.” Breukers said. “We would expect entries from all over the world if they would decide to give us the bid.

“Our interest is to deliver an event with a lot of international live television and drivers.”

There has been talk that Creventic wants to run under the auspices of AASA rather than CAMS, which is the designated sanctioning authority for events at Mount Panorama.

However, moves are underway to authorise AASA to sanction an event at Bathurst due to competition laws, which allow organisations other than CAMS to authorise racing.

Lack of CAMS approval has been nominated as a barrier to Creventic’s bid, but despite BRG’s affiliation with the FIA’s nominated ASN, it can’t legally stop a rival body from staging events at Mount Panorama.

Creventic runs 24 hours and 12 hours enduros in Europe, the USA, Dubai and Malaysia. A race at Mount Panorama would be its first in the southern hemisphere.

Its races cater for a wide variety of categories including GT3, GT4 and TCR, aimed at ‘gentleman’ drivers rather than professional teams that contest the Bathurst 12 Hour.

“We don’t want to be competition for the 12 Hour,” Breukers declared.

Creventic’s rivals for the fifth Bathurst date are Supercars, Australian Racing Group/CAMS, Ontic Sports, Mountain Motor Sports and 24 Hours Of Lemons Australia.

Breukers revealed he had held a meeting with ARG, which runs the fledgling TCR Australia Series, seeking a co-operation for the fifth Bathurst race, but “nothing was finalised”.

Creventic has identified October-November or February-March as the best times to run a 24 hours race at Mount Panorama. It would join the organisations’ continental championship series, which currently includes Dubai, Portugal’s Portimao, Barcelona and Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

“If it means we have to shift other races on our calendar, such as the Dubai 24 Hour or the COTA 24 Hour, then we will do that,” Breukers said.

Breukers has raced three times at Mount Panorama and has a real affection for the place, even though he spectacularly crashed a MARC Mazda there in the 2015 12 Hour.

He said Creventic had contacted Bathurst Regional Council as early as 2017 to enquire about running an international 24 hours race at Mount Panorama, but was told that would only be possible if a fifth major event was allowed.

When that possibility was opened up last month, Creventic lodged an expression of interest (EOI) at the last moment.

The 11th hour bid was because Breukers was only made aware of the fifth-event tender process very late.

“We would have thought we might have been notified sooner, but maybe something went wrong,” he said. “At the last moment, we decided to express our interest, which we had already for a long time.”

Breukers confirmed Creventic would set up an office in Australia if it won the Bathurst bid. While headquartered in the Netherlands, it also has an office in Dubai.

Meanwhile, Breukers’ son Rik, who is a contracted Audi driver, will drive in the opening round of this weekend’s TCR Australia Series debut at Sydney Motorsport Park in a Melbourne Performance Centre Audi RS3.

For more of the motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action. Also make sure you follow us on social media Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or our weekly email newsletter for all the latest updates between issues.