GTWC AUSTRALIA SCHEDULE COMING TOGETHER

The 2022 GT World Challenge Australia schedule is coming together, with some details revealed in the last 24 hours.

One of these is the fact that the Bathurst 12 Hour will not feature as part of the GTWC Australia calendar next year.

Last night SRO Motorsports founder and CEO Stephane Ratel announced a very provisional calendar for the Motorsport Australia GT category.

He announced that GTWC Australia will visit Phillip Island, Bathurst, Sandown and Sydney, while two events remain to be confirmed.

No dates were revealed, however Australian Racing Group (which co-owns the series with SRO) general manager Ken Collier confirmed in a letter to teams that the Bathurst 12 Hour would not be a round of the domestic series.

“Our 2022 Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia Powered by AWS calendar will not conflict with the 2022 Bathurst 12 Hour race, whatever the confirmed date is,” he announced in the letter.

“The B12H race will not be included as a round in the 2022 GTWC Australia Championship calendar.

“I look forward to working with SRO, Supercars and the local GT teams to make the race bigger and better than ever before.”

This means that Ratel’s scheduled Bathurst round, written on the list as the second event, must therefore be the Bathurst 6 Hour.

The 6 Hour is expected to be held on its annual Easter Long weekend date, which next year falls on the weekend of April 15-17.

Phillip Island has been scheduled to take place beforehand, kicking off the season.

Shannons Motorsport Australia Director of Motorsport & Commercial Operations Michael Smith has expressed that while the 2022 Shannons calendar is nearing completion, it is yet to be finalised.

“Motorsport Australia is in the final stages of planning for the 2022 Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships calendar,” said Smith.

“We hope to be able to reveal the calendar in the coming weeks. Including visits to some very iconic circuits.

“Given the interrupted nature of 2022, we know how eager everyone is to go racing, as are all of us at Motorsport Australia. The calendar will include visits to world class venues around Australia and deliver plenty of opportunities for a wide range of national Championships and Series.”

Last night Ratel announced a provisional Bathurst 12 Hour date of March 18-20, Collier confirmed the race will go ahead, but stressed that the date has not been officially signed off.

“You may be aware of the SRO announcement in the annual Stephane Ratel press conference, that the 2022 Intercontinental GT Challenge will again commence with the Bathurst 12 Hour race,” Collier wrote.

“This fantastic news has been announced with a TBC date of March 18 to 20, 2022.”

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