
The2002 Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance motor race staged at theMount Panorama Circuit just outsideBathurst inNew South Wales,Australia. The race, which was the first24-hour event to be held at Mount Panorama, started at 4:00pm on 16 November and finished at 4:00pm on 17 November. It was the first 24 Hour race to be held in Australia since the1954 Mount Druitt 24 Hours Road Race.
The race was open to several classes of GT and other production based cars and was intended as a showcase for the racing categories promoted byPROCAR, which includedNations Cup, GT Performance andGT Production. While there was much speculation about the highly popularV8 Brute Utes class also being eligible there was resistance to the idea and they ran short sprint races as a support category. Ten classes were announced, but only five classes attracted entries.
The race was won byGarth Tander,Steven Richards,Nathan Pretty andCameron McConville driving aHolden Monaro. The Holden quartet completed 532 laps of the 6.213 km (3.861 mi) long public road circuit for a total distance of 3,305.316 km (2,053.828 mi).
The race was open to entries in ten Groups.[1]
ForFIA N-GT,British GTO,All Japan GT andNations Cup (Group 1) cars.[1] It featured theFerrari 360 N-GT,Mosler MT900R,Porsche 996 GT3-RS,Porsche 996 GT3 Cup and the controversialHolden Monaro 427C which did not have a production counterpart.
ForPorsche Supercup cars.[1] No entries were received.
ForNations Cup (Group 2) cars andSuper Touring Cars.[1] Only three BMWs entered, Super Touring versions of the318i and320i and a modifiedZ3 M Coupe.
ForFIA Super 2000 cars.[1] No entries were received.
ForAustralian GT Performance Cars.[1] The entry consisted ofBMW ME Coupe,Ford Tickford T3 TE50,HSV Y Series GTS,Mazda RX-7 Series 8,Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution,Nissan 200SX,Nissan 350Z andSubaru Impreza WRX STi.
ForFIA Group N cars (3001cc and over).[1] No entries were received.
ForFIA Group N cars (2500cc-3000cc).[1] No entries were received.
For FIA Super Production cars and New Zealand Schedule S cars.[1] No entries were received.
ForAustralian GT Production Cars.[1] The entry consisted ofBMW 323i,Holden VX Commodore,Honda S2000 andToyota MR2 Bathurst.
For Invited cars including Future Tourers and Mirage series cars.[1] Entries included Future TourerHolden Commodores and a Holden V8 enginedMitsubishi Magna, a pair ofNürburgring VLN seriesBMW M3s andMitsubishi Mirages.
The top 10 qualifiers for the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour were as follows:[2]
| Pos | No | Team | Driver | Car | Qual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pole | 888 | Ferrari 360 N-GT | 2:15.0742 | ||
| 2 | 427 | Holden Monaro 427C | 2:17.7269 | ||
| 3 | 24 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 2:19.5861 | ||
| 4 | 11 | Mosler MT900R | 2:21.4492 | ||
| 5 | 52 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 2:22.7314 | ||
| 6 | 6 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 2:23.8472 | ||
| 7 | 33 | Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo | 2:28.4775 | ||
| 8 | 19 | BMW 320i | 2:28.7187 | ||
| 9 | 40 | Mitsubishi Magna | 2:28.8974 | ||
| 10 | 15 | BMW M3 | 2:29.0311 |
* During the first qualifying session, the #999 PHR ScuderiaPorsche 996 GT3-RS driven byJim Richards set a time of 2:20.4364 which would have placed the car 4th on the grid. However, later during that same qualifying session, Peter Fitzgerald crashed on the top of the mountain which damaged the car beyond immediate repair. PHR were then forced to substitute team owner Maher Algadrie'sPorsche 996 GT3 Cup car in the race. Due to having to substitute cars, the original lap time did not count and the GT3 Cup car eventually qualified in 14th place.
* According toMonaro driverCameron McConville, as he was such a late addition to the driving line up only a week prior to the race when it was decided that 4 drivers would be better than 3, his first drive of the car actually came in the qualifying session where he managed to set the car's fastest qualifying time, good enough for 2nd on the grid.
* At the recentSandown 500, theFerrari 360 N-GT's were severely restricted on top speed by Procar'sFIA approved air restrictors. With these allowed to be removed for Bathurst,Brad Jones found enough speed in the3.6L V8 Ferrari to put it on pole position.
Results as follows[3]
| Pos | Group | No | Team | Drivers | Chassis | Laps | Qual Pos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine | |||||||
| 1 | 1 | 427 | Holden Monaro 427C | 532 | 2 | ||
| ChevroletLS6 7.0LV8 | |||||||
| 2 | 1 | 11 | Mosler MT900R | 509 | 4 | ||
| ChevroletLS1 5.7L V8 | |||||||
| 3 | 10 | 16 | BMW M3 | 505 | 12 | ||
| BMWM52 3.2LI6 | |||||||
| 4 | 10 | 15 | BMW M3 | 497 | 10 | ||
| BMW M52 3.2L I6 | |||||||
| 5 | 3 | 35 | BMW M Coupe | 496 | 16 | ||
| BMW M54 3.2L I6 | |||||||
| 6 | 5 | 71 | BMW M3 | 491 | 15 | ||
| BMW M54 3.2L I6 | |||||||
| 7 | 5 | 23 | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 482 | 17 | ||
| Subaru EJ 2.0LTurboFlat-4 | |||||||
| 8 | 5 | 60 | Subaru Impreza WRX STi | 475 | 20 | ||
| Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4 | |||||||
| 9 | 5 | 17 | Ford Tickford T3 TE50 | 474 | 22 | ||
| FordWindsor 5.6L V8 | |||||||
| 10 | 9 | 62 | Holden Commodore VX SS | 463 | 33 | ||
| Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8 | |||||||
| 11 | 10 | 44 | Mitsubishi Mirage | 459 | 29 | ||
| Mitsubishi 1.5LI4 | |||||||
| 12 | 10 | 14 | Mitsubishi Mirage | 457 | 30 | ||
| Mitsubishi 1.5L I4 | |||||||
| 13 | 9 | 26 | BMW 323i | 455 | 34 | ||
| BMW M52 2.5L I4 | |||||||
| 14 | 9 | 29 | Honda S2000 | 451 | 31 | ||
| HondaF20C 2.0L I4 | |||||||
| 15 | 1 | 99 | Porsche 996 GT3 R | 451 | 14 | ||
| Porsche 3.6LFlat-6 | |||||||
| 16 | 5 | 200 | Nissan 200SX Spec-R | 448 | 32 | ||
| NissanSR20DET 2.0L Turbo I4 | |||||||
| 17 | 10 | 32 | Holden Commodore VX | 438 | 13 | ||
| Holden 5.0L V8 | |||||||
| 18 | 5 | 220 | Nissan 200SX Spec-R | 426 | 25 | ||
| Nissan SR engine 2.0L Turbo I4 | |||||||
| 19 | 10 | 28 | Mitsubishi Mirage | 425 | 28 | ||
| Mitsubishi 1.5L I4 | |||||||
| 20 | 5 | 45 | HSV GTS 300kW | 424 | 26 | ||
| Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8 | |||||||
| 21 | 5 | 222 | Nissan 200SX Spec-R | 424 | 27 | ||
| Nissan SR engine 2.0L Turbo I4 | |||||||
| 22 | 10 | 40 | Mitsubishi Magna | 420 | 9 | ||
| Holden5.0L V8 | |||||||
| 23 | 5 | 33 | Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo | 364 | 7 | ||
| Mazda13B-REW 1.3LRotary | |||||||
| 24 | 9 | 13 | Toyota MR2 Bathurst | 324 | 35 | ||
| Toyota3S-GE 2.0L I4 | |||||||
| 25 | 9 | 31 | Toyota MR2 Bathurst | 196 | 36 | ||
| Toyota S engine 2.0L I4 | |||||||
| DNF | 1 | 24 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 488 | 3 | ||
| Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 | |||||||
| DNF | 5 | 77 | Nissan 350Z | 436 | 21 | ||
| NissanVQ35DE 3.5LV6 | |||||||
| DNF | 5 | 9 | Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII | 387 | 23 | ||
| Mitsubishi4G63 2.0L Turbo I4 | |||||||
| DNF | 5 | 27 | BMW M Coupe | 384 | 19 | ||
| BMW M54 3.2L I6 | |||||||
| DNF | 10 | 41 | Holden Commodore VY | 348 | 11 | ||
| Holden 5.0L V8 | |||||||
| DNF | 3 | 19 | BMW 320i | 263 | 8 | ||
| BMW S14 2.0L I4 | |||||||
| DNF | 5 | 5 | Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII | 230 | 18 | ||
| Mitsubishi Sirius engine 2.0L Turbo I4 | |||||||
| DNF | 1 | 6 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 195 | 6 | ||
| Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 | |||||||
| DNF | 3 | 22 | BMW 318i | 126 | 24 | ||
| BMW S14 2.0L I4 | |||||||
| DNF | 1 | 888 | Ferrari 360 N-GT | 96 | 1 | ||
| Ferrari3.6L V8 | |||||||
| DNF | 1 | 52 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 58 | 5 | ||
| Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 | |||||||
| DNS | 1 | 999 | Porsche 996 GT3-RS | 4* | |||
| Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 |
* #999 PHR Scuderia Porsche 996 GT3-RS had set 4th fastest qualifying time. However, due to a practice crash the car was withdrawn and replaced by the teams 996 GT3 Cup car. As the RS was withdrawn the original time was not counted for grid position.