Six days after the 2019 24 Hours of Daytona, more strong emotions. The famous 2019 Bathurst 12 hour will take place this weekend (1-3 February) at the Mount Panorama Circuit in the town of Bathurst, New South Wales (Australia).

This is the inaugural event of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Championship and it boasts a large and important list of participants. More than 120 drivers from 12 different countries as well as 40 cars of 13 different manufacturers will be competing for glory in the challenging Aussie track.

Competitors will have to come face to face with the circuit’s demanding layout where each of its 6,213 meters is a big challenge in itself. Only the most daring and talented of drivers will be able to come as close as possible -without crashing- to the walls of the circuit in order to scratch those tenths of a second that make a difference between success and failure.

The Mount Panorama Circuit is unique for its technical difficulty, a territory only suited for those with fast hands and cold minds. So, who will see first the checkered flag?

GTE: Queen Class

Once again, the GTE is the highest-level category at the race and it includes such great drivers as Romain Dumas, three times champion (2010, 2013, 2016) of the 24 Hours of Le Mans or Gary Paffet, winner of the DTM 2018.

The leading manufacturers, Ferrari, BMW, Mercedes, Audi or Bentley among others, have brought to Australia some very impressive line-ups, showing their strong commitment to this competition. 

Another German brand, The Audi Sport Team Valvoline, will take part with the R8 LMS #2 of Christopher Mies, Christopher Haase and Markus Winkelhock and with the R8 LMS #22 of Kelvin Van der Linde, Garth Lander and Frederic Vervish. 

Audi

The Audi Sport Team MPC line-up is 100% Australian with Marc Cini, Dean Flore and Lee Holdsworth at the controls of the R8 LMS # 9. Meanwhile, fellow Aussies Todd Hazelwood, Roger Lago and David Russell will be at the wheel of the R8 LMS # 98 of Matt Stone Racing.

BMW

BMW will be competing with the M6 GTE # 42 of Team Schnitzer (Augusto Farfus, Chaz Mostert and Martin Tomczyk) and also with a sister vehicle, the number #34, of Walkenhorst Motorsport (Christian Matias Krognes, Nicky Catsburg and Mikkel Jensen).

Porsche

Porsche has brought a surprisingly large team to Australia; four units of the 911 GT3 R. The crown’s jewel, the # 540 of Black Swan Racing, driven by Tim Papas, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Marc Lieb.

Also forecasted to put up a good fight are the GT3 R #911 of the legendary Romain Dumas, Sven Muller and Mathieu Jaminet as well as the other vehicle of the same formation, the #912 piloted by Dirk Werner, Dennis Olsen and Matt Campbell.

There is no doubt that Porsche wants to conquer the glory that escaped them at Mount Panorama in 2018 when an ill-timed red flag ruined its extremely precise fuel strategy.

Another highlight is the return of Nissan with the GT-Rs Nismo GT3s #18 and #35, both integrated within the structure of debutant team KCMG.

Ferrari

Ferrari has come to the 12 Hours of Bathurst 2019 with a pair of 488 GT3s. One of them, the #27 of HubAuto Corsa, will be driven by Australians Nick Foster, Tim Slade and Nick Percat. The ‘ambassador’ of the Prancing Horse, however, will be the #51 of Spirit of Race, with the fabulous Aston Martin trio: Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Matthias Lauda.

Continuing with another legendary Italian brand, Lamborghini is competing with a Huracan GT3 #36 of the Melbourne Performance Centre and another identical model, the #29, of Motorsport Trophy.

British Army: Bentley, Aston Martin & McLaren

As for the British manufacturers, Bentley will race with the Continental GT3 #107 and #108 of the Bentley Team M-sport and Aston Martin does so with the Vantage R-Motorsport #62 and #760.  McLaren is bringing just one car, the 650S GT3 of Objective Racing, #11.

The engines have started to roar at the 2019 Bathurst 12 Hours and we will be following their every move. Watch this space!

2019 Bathurst 12 hour images: @Bathurst, Bentley Motorsport, Aston Martin Racing, Porsche Motorsport, McLaren and Intercontinental GT Challenge.