BATHURST 12 HOUR SET TO RETURN IN 2022

The Bathurst 12 Hour will return in 2022 as the first round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge after a year’s absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 campaign will kick off a little later than previous years, however the Bathurst 12 Hour has reclaimed its place as the traditional season opener.

Bathurst will hold the 12 Hour international GT endurance round from March 18-20.

SRO Motorsports founder and CEO Stephane Ratel was delighted to announce the return of one of the original events  in a press conference to the media.

“I’m pleased to announce the Bathurst 12 Hour,” he said. “I’m very pleased to say that we are announcing a date for next year 18-20 March in Bathurst.

“It’s later than usual but it should give teams more time to prepare.

“Of course, the travel situation is improving in Australia and we are very confident that it will be possible to travel to Australia by the end of March, that is a very important event in our calendar.”

Although not officially signed off Ratel expects to be back on Australian shores in just five months, he explained that due to the Pandemic it has not been an easy year for the category but hopes it can return to full strength next year.

“It’s been a difficult year simply because we couldn’t run in Japan, we couldn’t run in Australia,” he explained.

“So as you can see from the number of participating manufacturers we went from nine in 2020 to only five in 2021.

“We still have a very good participation and we’re very pleased about the commitment of the manufacturers.”

Australia will be the first in the four-round campaign, taking place from March 18-20 before a four-month break.

The season re-commences with the big one, the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours in Belgium in July and is followed by the Indianapolis 8 Hours.

As always the season will conclude in South Africa with the Kyalami 9 hours, an event which continues to grow year on year.

Due to travel restrictions in Japan, the Asian round at Suzuka remains off the schedule for next year.

“We won’t go to Japan next year because there are still quite a lot of uncertainties about Asia,” Ratel said.

“But Spa of course it is confirmed, the Indianapolis 8 Hour is confirmed, and I really want to salute the fantastic success we have with this event.

“Our ambition was to create the biggest GT race in America, and create the only GT endurance race in America where a GT can win overall and from jumping from 22 cars, to more than 40 (on the entry list) is proof of our success in this very important event.

“Of course, we will finish with the Kyalami nine hours in South Africa, there again our challenge was to develop local teams, before last year we came with only 12 cars only European.

“This year we’ll probably achieve around the same number, but we also have 10-11 local cars that will be joining the race, where we’re talking about environmental policy that what we need local teams in each country.”

Intercontinental GT Challenge 2022 Schedule 

R1 – Bathurst 12 Hour March 18-20 (TBC)
R2 – 24 Hours of Spa July 28-31
R3 – Indianapolis 8 Hour October 7-9
R4 – Kyalami 9 Hour November 24-26

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