MOTORSPORT: Quality, not quantity, in Bathurst 12-Hour

Bathurst 12-Hour organisers have announced what they boast is "a brilliant field" for the enduro now little more than four weeks away – but the entry list has shrunk.

The 40 entries confirmed today are only 80 per cent of the number of cars (50) that started last year's 12-Hour – and before that event there had been 54 entries.

The field for the 14th Bathurst 12-Hour on February 7 also is six short of the number announced last September after the close of 'early bird' entries.

The organisers said then that they had 46 cars "locked in".

Forty cars started the 12-Hour in 2014, but that was after numerous "scratchings" from the entry list.

Supercar Events, an arm of the V8 Supercars organisation, has taken over promotion of the 12-Hour from James O'Brien's Yeehah Events since the clash last year of the February enduro at Mt Panorama with a test weekend for V8 Supercars at Sydney Motorsport Park.

While there is less quantity now on the entry list – with only seven cars in the invitational class, five fewer than were "locked in" last August 31, and nine in classes B (GT3 Cup cars) and C (GT4), four fewer than 4½ months ago – there unquestionably is an abundance of quality.

Apart from international stars, 14 V8 Supercar drivers are to race in this year's 12-Hour, including Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Shane van Gisbergen, Will Davison, David Reynolds and Scott McLaughlin.

New event director John Casey highlighted that 11 brands of car and 15 models would be represented, with 24 in Class A (GT3) vying for outright victory as well as the other nine GTs cars in classes B and C.

A Nissan GT-R (pictured) won last year's 12-Hour ahead of an Audi R8, Aston Martin Vantage, Bentley Continental, Mercedes SLS AMG, Ferrari 458 and Lamborghini Gallardo after a thrilling late charge by Japan's Katsumasa Chiyo, who was partnered by two computer gamer graduates – German Florian Strauss and Belgian Wolfgang Reip.

Nissan's NISMO arm is returning with a GT-R but has not yet announced its driver line-up.

There also will be factory teams from McLaren and Bentley and others with works support from Audi, Ferrari, Mercedes and Reiter Engineering (Lamborghini).

The international drivers include one of New Zealand's 2015 Le Mans 24-Hour winners Earl Bamber, former Formula 1 drivers Mika Salo, Andrea Montermini and Ivan Capelli, and GT stars Christoper Mies (the reigning Australian GT champion), Toni Vilander, Christoper Haase, Marco Mapelli, Renger Van der Zande, Benny Simonsen, Alvaro Parente and Rob Bell.

"With the outstanding mix of world-class internationals and some of Australia's finest V8 Supercars drivers, this is one the most talented fields assembled for the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour," Casey said.

"The growing importance of this race on the global stage, and now as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge (a new series also including the Spa 24-Hour in Belgium, the Sepang 12-Hour in Malaysia and a three-hour race at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas), is reflected by the manufacturer interest and the fact so many great drivers and teams want to come and race on the Mountain.

"When Nissan, Bentley, Phoenix Racing (one of several teams fielding Audis) and Erebus Motorsport (Betty Klimenko's Mercedes-Benz GT squad) confirm their drivers within the next two weeks that list will get even better and we will be in for something special this February."

See the Bathurst 12-Hour entry list.