Challenge Bathurst organisers have confirmed that the event will return in 2018.
The third edition of Challenge Bathurst will take place on November 15-18, effectively the same weekend as the recent running just over a fortnight ago.
A record 422 entries took on the 2017 event, 158 in Super Sprint and 264 in Regularity, just two and 11 cars short of capacity for the respective fields.
This year’s Super Sprint competition was won by the Trofeo Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Jim Manolios, Dean Canto, and Ryan Millier, with Canto clocking a best of 2:05.493s.
Car owner Manolios said that the event was a valuable pre-Bathurst 12 Hour hit-out.
“You can test anywhere in Australia but there’s nothing like getting laps at Mount Panorama,” he declared.
“We’ve been testing new setups for the car that we intend to use next February and for us it has been invaluable.”
Event Director James O’Brien said that the strong competitor numbers made the decision to continue to run the event in November.
“The outstanding response from competitors has helped establish the event in its current slot on the calendar,” explained O’Brien.
“Despite some challenging conditions a great weekend was had this year with lots of personal bests recorded and great, friendly competition amongst the Super Sprint and Regularity competitors throughout the weekend.
“The event will return across the same November weekend next year and plans are already underway to improve and grow it moving forward.”
2017 Results: Super Sprint: By class
Class | Entrant | Car | Time |
A | Bruce Hibbard | Porsche 991 | 2:24.830 |
B | David Godber | Porsche 996 | 2:17.912 |
F | Jim Manolios | Lamborghini Huracan | 2:05.493 |
G | Justin Kinchington | Nissan R34 GTR | 2:24.785 |
H | David Murphy | Ford Falcon | 2:20.155 |
I | Drew Hall | Nissan R34 GTR | 2:16.289 |
J | Darren Barlow | Stohr WF1 | 2:10.939 |
K | Neil Brookes | HSV Clubsport R8 | 2:29.168 |