There is no bigger race in Australian motorsport with 26 cars and 52 drivers heading to Mount Panorama for their shot at Bathurst glory.
Unusually, there is something of a relevant Bathurst form guide on offer given this is the second time Supercars has raced at the famous circuit this year.
The current campaign opened on the Mount Panorama circuit, and, like the 1000 this weekend, the single-driver event was held on the hard compound Dunlop tyre (after a flirtation with the soft at the Great Race last year).
There is also a co-driver guide from the recent Sandown 500, all of those factors combined helping paint the picture of who could be the cars to beat this Sunday.
At the top of the list has to be the Triple Eight cars, which were rapid at the Bathurst 500 back in February and head back to Bathurst off the back of a one-two at Sandown.
That was a win for series leader Will Brown who will be joined by the fast and experienced Scott Pye, while there a little in the way of questions over the ability of Broc Feeney’s teammate Jamie Whincup either.
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Ultimately, it could be pit priority that determines which of the Red Bull Chevrolets comes out on top on Sunday evening – particularly as the protection of stacking worked into the rules for Sandown won’t apply for Bathurst.
On paper, the strongest competition for T8 should come from the Blue Oval in general, and Walkinshaw Andretti United in particular.
2021 Great Race winners Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth have to be counted among the absolute favourites, despite not wowing at Sandown, while the same can be said about the Tickford entry of Cam Waters and James Moffat.
Over at Groves both entries have the potential to be contenders, with the all-star line-up of Matt Payne/Garth Tander in one and reigning Bathurst 1000 champ Richie Stanaway paired with the very experience Dale Wood in the other.
The question mark over all those pairings, however, is reliability, with Ford’s engine supplier working overtime to develop a revised package due to a spate of crankshaft failures at Sandown.
Another question mark is Erebus Motorsport, and in particular the lead car of Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood. The #1 Camaro was speedy at Sandown, but couldn’t quite nail a result.
Still, Hazelwood stood in for Kostecki at the Bathurst 500 earlier this year so has miles under his belt, and the pairing cannot be underestimated. Nor can Jack Le Brocq and Jayden Ojeda in the sister entry.
The regular field will be joined by two wildcards. One is the Supercheap Auto-backed, T8-run car of Cooper Murray and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes, which impressed with a fifth placed finish at Sandown.
The other is the Boost Mobile-backed Matt Chahda Racing entry driven by Chahda himself and promising young gun Brad Vaughan, who will share an ex-T8 Camaro.
2024 Repco Bathurst 1000 schedule (All times AEDT)
Thursday, October 10
7:30-7:50 V8 SuperUtes – Practice
8:00-8:20 Heritage Touring Cars – Practice
8:30-8:50 TGRA GR Cup – Practice 1
9:00-9:50 Carrera Cup – Practice
10:05-10:45 Dunlop Series – Practice 1
10:55-11:15 V8 SuperUtes – Qualifying
11:25-11:45 Heritage Touring Cars – Qualifying
12:45-13:05 TGRA GR Cup – Practice 2
13:20-14:20 Supercars – Practice 1 (all drivers)
14:45-15:25 Dunlop Series – Practice 2
15:40-16:10 Carrera Cup – Qualifying
16:20-16:40 Heritage Touring Cars – Race 1
16:55-17:55 Supercars – Practice 2 (additional drivers)
Friday, October 11
7:25-7:50 Supercars – Testing
8:00-8:20 TGRA GR Cup – Qualifying
8:30-8:50 Heritage Touring Cars – Race 2
9:00-9:20 V8 SuperUtes – Race 1
9:30-9:50 Dunlop Series – Qualifying (Race 1)
10:05-11:05 Supercars – Practice 3 (all drivers)
11:15-11:35 Heritage Touring Cars – Race 3
12:35-12:55 TGRA GR Cup – Race 1
13:05-14:05 Supercars – Practice 4 (all drivers)
14:25-15:05 Carrera Cup – Race 1
15:20-16:00 Dunlop Series – Race 1
16:15-16:55 Supercars – Qualifying
Saturday, October 12
8:35-9:00 V8 SuperUtes – Race 2
9:15-9:35 Dunlop Series – Qualifying (Race 2)
10:05-11:05 Supercars – Practice 5 (additional drivers)
11:20-11:40 Heritage Touring Cars – Race 4
13:10-14:10 Supercars – Practice 6 (all drivers)
14:25-14:45 V8 SuperUtes – Race 3
14:55-15:15 TGRA GR Cup – Race 2
15:25-15:50 Carrera Cup – Race 2
16:05-16:45 Dunlop Series – Race 2
17:05-17:50 Supercars – Top 10 Shootout
Sunday, October 13
7:40-9:00 V8 SuperUtes – Race 4
8:15-8:35 Supercars – Warm-up
8:45-9:05 TGRA GR Cup – Race 3
9:15-9:45 Carrera Cup – Race 3
11:30 Supercars – Bathurst 1000
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