MOTORSPORT: Bathurst's Easter production

Bathurst’s 1000-kilometre Supercar enduro each October has the household names of Australian motor racing, the Bathurst 12 Hour in February exotic GTs and many international drivers, and the Bathurst 6 Hour at Easter features production cars with which the ordinary motorist can identify.

The third Bathurst 6 Hour is this Sunday, with 62 entries comprising 17 makes and 38 models in seven classes.

While the entry is two cars short of last year’s record (for any Bathurst enduro)of 64, it’s actually a larger list of purely production-classified vehicles -- as five ‘saloon cars’ than ran last year are ineligible now.

There are 11 BMWs and 11 Holdens in this year’s field, eight Mitsubishis, six Toyotas and five Subarus.

Event director James O’Brien proudly proclaims that the 6 Hour is “an avenue for privateer runners and family teams on a modest budget to compete at [the world-renowned] Mt Panorama”.

There’s also an excellent support program, comprising historic touring cars, historic Formula Fords (including Malcolm Oastler, creator of F1 cars and IndyCars, in his Reynard FF88), a national gathering of Hyundai Excel one-make series with 55 entries, NSW production sports cars and Porsche regularity trials.

There are a couple of Supercar drivers competing in this Bathurst 6-Hour: Chaz Mostert, winner of the 2014 October classic from last place and the 6 Hour two years ago in a BMW 335i; and Tim Slade.

Mostert came close a year ago to back-to-back successes in the 6 Hour, only to have it snatched from him in the dying minutes when the new Ford Focus RS LZ he drove with Nathan Morcom lost fifth and sixth gears due to what he admitted was “driver abuse”.

Victory went to Paul Morris (who had partnered Mostert in the Supercar triumph in 2014) and Luke Searle in a BMW M135i, although somehow, even without those two top gears, Mostert set a production-car lap record just a few kilometres before the chequered flag.

The victorious BMW and the Focus were both quicker at the end of the race than they had qualified.

Mostert and Morcom are back at the Mountain this Easter with the Focus which now has a year’s development under its belt.

Slade has reunited with Dylan Thomas in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X RS that last year had an engine failure after just 20 laps.

Although there were 11 safety car interruptions last year and the 113 laps completed were 12 less than the previous year, there were 18 lead changes over the six hours.

Grant and Iain Sherrin’s BMW M4, known as ‘The Beast’ and which had started from pole position, dominated the early laps on the 2017 race before a technical issue that cost it three laps for repairs, only to make them back up but then drop out of contention with a puncture.

The Sherrins, reigning Australian Production Car Series champions, are back with the M4 this Easter among the favourites along with Mark Eddy’s Audi TT RS and the Garth Walden and Rod Salmon-entered Mercedes-AMG A45s.

Walden and co-driver Craig Baird were in contention for a podium last year before an enormous fire within sight of the chequered flag ended their day on the start-finish line.

Former production car champion Beric Lynton has upgraded to a brand-new BMW M3 which he will share with Tim Leahey, while Jeremy Gray is back with the Ford Falcon FG II GT-F that was highly competitive last year. George Miedecke is his co-driver.

Ryan Macleod’s MARC Cars Australia, synonymous with the February Bathurst 12-Hour, returns to its production car roots. It is fielding the event’s first all-international team (Americans Daren Jorgensen, Brett Strom and Cameron Lawrence) in a BMW 1M, as well as its M4 GT4 in the production sports cars.

Mt Panorama regular Trevor Keene, from nearby Orange, has entered a Volkswagen Golf R.

Practice begins on Good Friday, with qualifying over two half-hour sessions on Saturday – one for the top half of the field, the other for the slower half – and the race starts at 11.30am eastern time Sunday.

It will be telecast on Fox Sports 505 and for international fans, streamed on the event website, bathurst6hour.com.au. Two hours of highlights will be screened on SBS’ Speedweek on Sunday, April 15.