Challenge Bathurst will return next year following a successful debut event at Mount Panorama last week.

Organisers have confirmed the popular sprint meeting will once again be held in November at the famous 6.2km circuit.

More than 320 cars were entered for this year’s inaugural event held over four days from November 24-27.

Split into groups for professional and amateur drivers, the event attracted a vast range of machinery, including professional GT3 teams keen to prepare for the Bathurst 12 Hour.

A field of 120 professional entries took part in the Lightning SuperSprint session on Thursday and Friday with the MARC BMW M6 GT3 entry topping the times with a 2:04.29s effort.

BMW Team SRM were second fastest, while Adelaide driver Yasser Shahin was third in his Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 with a 2:05.41s benchmark.

The weekend saw more than 200 amateurs drivers log laps in a series of 20 minute sessions at the venue.

Encouraged by his new project, event director James O’Brien hopes to build on the success next year.

“We have been very pleased with the feedback from the inaugural event and it was an easy decision to commit straight away to it coming back in 2017,” said O’Brien.

“It was a great weekend with perfect weather and lots of track time for everyone involved, so we will continue to build on that for next year.”