12 HOUR OPENER FOR AUSTRALIAN GT ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP

Bathurst 12 Hour to open Australian GT Endurance Championship – Photo: InSyde Media

Next year’s CAMS Australian GT Championship will encompass three rounds, starting with next year’s Bathurst 12 Hour after an agreement with Supercars was reached to contest the opening round at the international event.

By HEATH McALPINE

The announcement comes off a season where declining entries has been a concern for organisers Trofeo Motorsport, while as revealed in Auto Action 1771, discussions between outside parties to purchase the category are believed to have taken place.

A standalone GT festival at Phillip Island signals the second round of the championship on March 20-22, a week after the Australian Grand Prix. The final round will be held in conjunction with the Shannons Nationals at Sandown Raceway on August 21-22, both these races being four-hour endurance events.

Australian GT Category Manager David Vervaart believes including the prestigious Bathurst 12 Hour on the calendar will attract further entries to the overall Endurance Championship.

“We’re proud to unveil the first part of our 2020 racing calendar well in advance of the new season,” Australian GT Category Manager David Vervaart said.

“It is part of a comprehensive season for 2020 which incorporates significant input from a variety of sources (including the recent Australian GT survey), and a desire to include the biggest GT event on the Australian motorsport calendar to create what we believe to be the best Endurance Championship ever offered.

“The Australian Endurance Championship is a prestigious event and one of only a handful of CAMS Championships offered in Australia, so we wanted it to represent that honour.”

Vervarrt is confident that the issue of cost has been addressed by utilising Australia’s biggest GT event as a round of the title and limiting the number of events held throughout the season.

“We’re excited by what the coming season has to offer, off the back of a championship which very much followed the traditional path set over recent years,” Vervaart continued.

“The motorsport landscape around the world though is changing, requiring a new approach, whilst we’re also well aware of the current economic climate, so to address much of that, we have condensed the endurance program and included the 12 Hour to allow Australian GT teams an opportunity to gain additional value and important points towards the overall Australian Endurance Championship title.”

The class structure will remain the same as it has done previously, but as previously announced GT4 will run as a separate title next year, but will be run at both Bathurst and Sandown.

“As has been the case across the modern history of the CAMS Australian Endurance Championship, the title will be contested by the outright GT3 class, with awards too for Trophy Class, Invited Cars and the emerging GT4 category, however the GT4 category will only be contested over the Bathurst 12 Hour weekend, and the Sandown event in August,” Vervaart explained.

“GT4 is an emerging category so we’ve tried to keep the costs down for competitors whilst including premium events like the Bathurst 12 Hour to provide additional value for their racing budgets.”

The next round of the Australian GT Championship is a sprint round on the Gold Coast on October 25-27.

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