An initial entry list featuring 46 cars has been released ahead of February’s Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hours.

The ‘early bird’ entries submitted prior to August 31 are 12 up on those received to the same point for this year’s race.

Entrants include 21 outright GT3 offerings, made up largely of local competitors.

Eighteen of the 21 are return entrants from 2015, including multi-car teams for Australian GT stalwarts Erebus, Maranello and the Melbourne Performance Centre.

Newcomers are Peter Rullo’s Peformance West Motorsport, which will field a Lamborghini, Tony Walls’ Objective Racing (McLaren) and an Audi for Kiwi outfit International Motorsport.

Germans Phoenix Racing and American David Calvert Jones are the only current GT3 entrants from outside Australasia, with the bulk of the big teams expected to confirm plans later in the year.

New event owner V8 Supercars has meanwhile confirmed that its marketing director John Casey will act as director of the 12 Hour.

“We are very excited to see such strong interest from competitors in the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, continuing the healthy growth in the event,” Casey said.

“We are proud to be able to add our support and look forward to making the 2016 race bigger and better than ever for fans, drivers, sponsors and manufacturers.”

Entries remain open until December 11, while tickets go on sale today and will remain at 2015 event prices until the end of the year.

Bathurst 12 Hour entries as of September 3