Mount Panorama 500
Race Information | |
Venue | Mount Panorama Circuit |
Number of times held | 7 |
First held | 1966 |
Race Format | |
Race 1 | |
Laps | 40 |
Distance | 250 km |
Race 2 | |
Laps | 40 |
Distance | 250 km |
Last Event (2024) | |
Overall Winner | |
Will Brown | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
Race Winners | |
Broc Feeney | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
Will Brown | Triple Eight Race Engineering |
The Bathurst 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Thrifty Bathurst 500) is a Supercars Championship motor racing event that has been on occasion, with the most recent iteration scheduled for the 2024 season at Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia.
In recent years, the Bathurst sprint round has been used as a reserve round that can be implemented when necessary to replace cancelled rounds. This happened in 2021, when international travel restrictions forced Motorsport Australia to cancel the Bathurst 12 Hour, and in 2024, when Supercars' talks with Newcastle to renew their contract to run the Newcastle 500 collapsed.[1] A championship sprint event at the circuit was previously held six times between 1966 and 1996.[2]
History
The Mount Panorama Circuit is best known as host of the Bathurst 1000 endurance race for touring cars, an event which was first run in Bathurst as the Armstrong 500 in 1963. In addition to the endurance race, generally held in October, the circuit had traditions of hosting a major event over the Easter weekend, dating back to the circuit's first major event, the 1938 Australian Grand Prix.[3] The first four ATCC sprint rounds at the circuit were held as part of the annual Easter event, with the races held on Easter Monday.
The Australian Touring Car Championship, first run in
After a championship absence of over two decades, a sprint event returned to Mount Panorama in 1995 and 1996. The event was not on the Easter weekend, however it was still the second major annual event (the maximum permitted at the circuit under the
The sprint round did not remain on the calendar in 1997, with two Bathurst 1000s being held instead after a promotional split, while from 1999 the unified Bathurst 1000 itself became a championship round.[4] In 2020, the return of the sprint round was announced to be held in February 2021 as the final round of the extended 2020 season, in a shuffled calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] After further changes where the season was truncated to again finish within the 2020 calendar year,[9] Supercars decided the event would be held as the first round of the next season in 2021. The event featured two single-driver 250 kilometre races,[10] both of which were won by Shane van Gisbergen.[11] The Mount Panorama 500 replaced the Bathurst 12 Hour, which could not be conducted because of international travel restrictions. The event remains as a reserve date if necessary.[1]
With the cancellation of the Newcastle round, the Bathurst 500 was announced as the replacement race to open the 2024 season, one week after the Bathurst 12 Hour.[12][13] The events will form the ten-day Bathurst SuperFest to comply with New South Wales' Motor Sports Events Act limit of five events a year. By combining the two event weekends into one ten-day event, it is designed to allow the two events to be one event in compliance with the law.[13][14]
Winners
Year | Driver[4] | Team | Car | Report |
---|---|---|---|---|
1966 | Ian Geoghegan | Total Team | Ford Mustang Mk.1 | Report |
1967 – 1968 |
not held | |||
1969 | Ian Geoghegan | Mustang Team | Ford Mustang Mk.1 | Report |
1970 | Norm Beechey | Norm Beechey Shell Racing Team | Holden Monaro HT GTS350 | Report |
1971 | not held | |||
1972 | Ian Geoghegan | Geoghegan's Sporty Cars | Ford Falcon XY GTHO Phase III | |
1973 – 1994 |
not held | |||
1995 | John Bowe | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon EF
|
Report |
1996 | John Bowe | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Falcon EF | |
1997 – 2020 |
not held | |||
2021 | Shane van Gisbergen | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Holden Commodore ZB
|
Report |
2022 – 2023 |
not held | |||
2024 | Will Brown | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Chevrolet Camaro ZL1-1LE | Report |
Multiple winners
By driver
Wins | Driver | Years |
---|---|---|
3 | Ian Geoghegan | 1966, 1969, 1972 |
2 | John Bowe | 1995, 1996 |
By team
Wins | Team |
---|---|
3 | Geoghegan's Sporty Cars[a] |
2 | Dick Johnson Racing |
Triple Eight Race Engineering |
By manufacturer
Wins | Manufacturer |
---|---|
5 | Ford |
2 | Holden |
Event sponsors
- 1966, 1969–70, 1995–96: Bathurst
- 1972: Better Brakes 100
- 2021: Repco Mount Panorama 500
- 2024: Thrifty Bathurst 500
See also
Notes
- ^ Previously entered under the names Total Team and Mustang Team.
References
- ^ a b Chapman, Simon (27 February 2021). "No plans for Mount Panorama 500 to return". Speedcafe. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ a b Pavey, James (22 February 2021). "Mountain memories: Bathurst's sprint round history". Supercars. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
- ^ a b c Dale, Will (22 April 2019). "Easter Flashback: Was this the ATCC's greatest race?". Supercars. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9805912-2-4.
- ^ Fogarty, Mark (15 April 2016). "The best of the V8 Supercars 500". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
- ^ Frood, Andrew (14 February 2018). "RIP RACERS THE DJR 94 BATHURST WINNER". V8 Sleuth. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ "Saturday Sleuthing: The Shell Sandown 500 Winner". Supercars. 6 September 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
- ^ Chapman, Simon (17 May 2020). "Supercars releases revised 13-round 2020/21 calendar". Speedcafe. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "Sandown Takes Traditional Spot on Newly Revised Supercars Calendar". Auto Action. 18 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
- ^ Chapman, Simon (2 December 2020). "Supercars reveals long awaited 2021 calendar". Speedcafe. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
- ^ van Leeuwen, Andrew (28 February 2021). "Bathurst Supercars: Van Gisbergen completes victory clean sweep at Mount Panorama 500". Autosport. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Bathurst SuperFest to feature Bathurst 12 Hour, Bathurst 500 in 2024". Supercars.com. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
- ^ a b Cole, Hamish (24 February 2024). "Bathurst 500 returns to Mount Panorama-Wahluu as businesses celebrate racing festival success". ABC News. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
- ^ Herrero, Daniel. "Plans for 10-day Bathurst 'festival' to open 2024 Supercars season". Speedcafe. Speedcafe Pty Ltd. Retrieved 8 November 2023.