MOTORSPORT: Bathurst battle now three 

The race for a fifth place on the annual Bathurst starting grid has turned into a three-way contest with Supercars Australia in pole position.

The Australian Racing Group, promoters of the fledgling carsales TCR championship, is mounting a strong challenge for a new-age event at Mount Panorama and Mountain Motorsports is regarded as an outside chance.

There are already four annual events at Bathurst (Supercars’ 1000 classic, Bathurst 12-Hour, Bathurst 6-Hour and Challenge Bathurst) but the local council sees an obvious opening for an extra one.

“An opportunity exists for a fifth motor racing event at Mount Panorama and Council is seeking expressions of interest from experienced motor racing event promoters,” the Bathurst mayor, Graeme Hanger, told carsales.

There were six initial submissions to the council and that number has now been halved. Hanger is not giving any detail on the content of the rival bids, however.

“We had six submissions originally for the potential new event. The three organisations that were shortlisted [were] based on their Expressions of Interest.”

Hanger says there is no timetable yet for the event, or even the year it is expected to begin, but is firm on the timetable for the announcement of the winning bid.

“The final decision will be made in August [2019]. We are just looking at Expressions Of Interest for a potential event. So have no detail on the date or what it would be about.”

The contenders are also reluctant to go into detail on their proposals.

“It won’t be a sprint race. It won’t be a Supercars race,” the Supercars spokesman, Cole Hitchcock, tells carsales.

“We would like to bring something different to the table.”

Supercars already owns the rights to the 12-Hour race for global GT3 cars and teams, operating it since 2016.

The organisation has, however, long harboured a desire to create an Australian version of the Goodwood Festival of Speed at The Mountain.

Matt Braid, CEO of the Australian Racing Group, is more open but still non-committal on the type of event or potential date.

“It’s a very prestigious opportunity. So to be in the final list is great. It shows our proposal has been well received,” he says.

Any TCR event is likely to have some sort of international component, but Braid is quick to rule out a round of the World TCR championship at Mount Panorama.

“Just to clarify, it’s not WTCR. There will be some international component, but World TCR is different to TCR in Australia.”

In the case of Mountain Motorsports’, it would be new to Bathurst and its expertise is mostly in Targa-style road rallies.

The Bathurst Council has not set any fixed criteria for the fifth event, but will soon be taking individual presentations from the three finalists to add detail to their written submissions.

“Council has not identified a preferred time of year,” says Hanger.

It’s the same story on the kick-off date, which could be 2020 or sometime further into the future.

“If and when an EOI is accepted, a date will be determined,” Hanger stated.

It’s a similar story on the need for an international component for a successful pitch.

“No, all submissions are being considered,” he added.

But TCR could be closing on an international tie-up and it might pivot around the upcoming visit of the two key figures in the global TCR category.

Marchello Lotti, the TCR supremo and driving force behind the category, will visit the second round of the carsales TCR Australia Series at Phillip Island and will be accompanied by the technical chief, Nunzia Corvino.

Braid will not discuss the talking points for their visit, beyond their enthusiasm for the TCR start-up in Australia.

“He was ideally going to try and make the first round at Sydney Motorsport Park, but there was a clash in dates,” Braid says.

“This has been on the cards for a while. They want to see the local series.”

So, will there be a discussion on the Bathurst submission, and a potential international event?

“We’re going to talk about some other things,” is his short reply on the subject.