2002 Bathurst 24 Hour Explained

The 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance motor race staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the first 24-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 the 1954 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 by PROCAR, which included Nations Cup, GT Performance and GT Production. While there was much speculation about the highly popular V8 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 by Garth Tander, Steven Richards, Nathan Pretty and Cameron McConville driving a Holden Monaro.

Group structure

The race was open to entries in ten Groups.^[1]

Group 1

For FIA N-GT, British GTO, All Japan GT and Nations Cup (Group 1) cars.^[1] It featured the Ferrari 360 N-GT, Mosler MT900R, Porsche 996 GT3-RS, Porsche 996 GT3 Cup and the controversial Holden Monaro 427C which did not have a production counterpart.

Group 2

For Porsche Supercup cars.^[1] No entries were received.

Group 3

For Nations Cup (Group 2) cars and Super Touring Cars.^[1] Only three BMWs entered, Super Touring versions of the 318i and 320i and a modified Z3 M Coupe.

Group 4

For FIA Super 2000 cars.^[1] No entries were received.

Group 5

For Australian GT Performance Cars.^[1] The entry consisted of BMW ME Coupe, Ford Tickford T3 TE50, HSV Y Series GTS, Mazda RX-7 Series 8, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Nissan 200SX, Nissan 350Z and Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Group 6

For FIA Group N cars (3001cc and over).^[1] No entries were received.

Group 7

For FIA Group N cars (2500cc-3000cc).^[1] No entries were received.

Group 8

For FIA Super Production cars and New Zealand Schedule S cars.^[1] No entries were received.

Group 9

For Australian GT Production Cars.^[1] The entry consisted of BMW 323i, Holden VX Commodore, Honda S2000 and Toyota MR2 Bathurst.

Group 10

For Invited cars including Future Tourers and Mirage series cars.^[1] Entries included Future Tourer Holden Commodores and a Holden V8 engined Mitsubishi Magna, a pair of Nürburgring VLN series BMW M3s and Mitsubishi Mirages.

Top 10 Qualifiers

The top 10 qualifiers for the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour were as follows:^[2]

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Qual
Pole	888	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	Brad Jones	Ferrari 360 N-GT	2:15.0742
2	427	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Garth Tander	Holden Monaro 427C	2:16.8792
3	24	Cirtek Motorsport	David Brabham	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	2:19.5861
4	11	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short	Mosler MT900R	2:21.4492
5	52	Seikel Motorsport	Tony Burgess	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	2:22.7314
6	6	AD Holdings	Peter Floyd	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	2:23.8472
7	33	Pro-Duct Motorsport	Bob Pearson	Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo	2:28.4775
8	19	Bruce Miles	Bruce Miles	BMW 320i	2:28.7187
9	40	Compuware	Terry Bosnjak	Mitsubishi Magna	2:28.8974
10	15	Duller Motorsport	Ian Donaldson	BMW M3	2:29.0311

• During the first qualifying session, the #999 PHR Scuderia Porsche 996 GT3-RS driven by Jim 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's Porsche 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.

Official results

Results as follows^[3]

Pos	Group	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Qual Pos
					Engine
1	1	427	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Garth Tander Steven Richards Nathan Pretty Cameron McConville	Holden Monaro 427C	532	2
					Chevrolet LS6 7.0L V8
2	1	11	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short Mark Pashley Charles Lamb Dilantha Malagamuwa	Mosler MT900R	509	4
					Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
3	10	16	Duller Motorsport	Howard Redhouse Peter Hannen Domenic Beninca	BMW M3	505	12
					BMW M52 3.2L I6
4	10	15	Duller Motorsport	Ian Donaldson Robert Brooks Rob Wilson Andrew Donaldson	BMW M3	497	10
					BMW M52 3.2L I6
5	3	35	Sterling Motorsport	VJ Angelo Ric Shaw Mathew Marsh Ross Buckingham	BMW M Coupe	496	16
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
6	5	71	Peter Boylan	Peter Boylan Damien White Peter McKay	BMW M3	491	15
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
7	5	23	Peters Racing	Brett Peters Gary Deane Robert Rubis John Falk	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	482	17
					Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4
8	5	60	Protecnica Racing	Scott Anderson Wayne Boatwright Ross Almond Ross Halliday	Subaru Impreza WRX STi	475	23
					Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4
9	5	17	Trevor Haines	Trevor Haines Mark King Trevor Sheumack James Phillip	Ford Tickford T3 TE50	474	24
					Ford Windsor 5.6L V8
10	9	62	Scott Loadsman	Scott Loadsman Ian Luff Ray Lintott David Russell	Holden Commodore VX SS	463	34
					Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
11	10	44	Mal Rose	Gary Young Gary Quartly Anthony Robson	Mitsubishi Mirage	459	30
					Mitsubishi 1.5L I4
12	10	14	David Borg	David Borg Allan Shepherd Jack Elsegood	Mitsubishi Mirage	457	31
					Mitsubishi 1.5L I4
13	9	26	Novocastrian Motorsport	Wayne Moore Roger Townshend Klark Quinn Tony Blanche	BMW 323i	455	35
					BMW M52 2.5L I4
14	9	29	Ross Palmer Motorsport	Peter Hansen Hermann Tilke Melinda Price	Honda S2000	451	32
					Honda F20C 2.0L I4
15	1	99	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	Jim Richards Matt Weiland Maher Algadrie Peter Fitzgerald	Porsche 996 GT3 R	451	14
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
16	5	200	Haysom Motorsport	Greg Haysom Craig Dean Paul Stubber Chris Smith	Nissan 200SX Spec-R	448	33
					Nissan SR20DET 2.0L Turbo I4
17	10	32	Steve Williams	Steve Williams Graham Moore Mike Kilpatrick	Holden Commodore VX	438	13
					Holden 5.0L V8
18	5	220	Haysom Motorsport	Tony Quinn Tony Alford John Grounds Grant Denyer	Nissan 200SX Spec-R	426	27
					Nissan SR engine 2.0L Turbo I4
19	10	28	Mal Rose	Mal Rose Peter Leemhuis Shane Brangwin	Mitsubishi Mirage	425	29
					Mitsubishi 1.5L I4
20	5	45	Allan Walls	Allan Walls Dennis Cribbin Roland Hill	HSV GTS 300kW	424	20
					Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
21	5	222	Haysom Motorsport	Ray Ayton Rodney Woods Hugh Harrison Michael Robinson	Nissan 200SX Spec-R	424	28
					Nissan SR engine 2.0L Turbo I4
22	10	40	Palmer Promotions	Terry Bosnjak Warren Luff Ian Palmer Ray Sidebottom	Mitsubishi Magna	420	9
					Holden 5.0L V8
23	5	33	Pro-Duct Motorsport	Bob Pearson Mark Brame Bruce Stewart Peter Roma	Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo	364	7
					Mazda 13B-REW 1.3L Rotary
24	9	13	Osborne Motorsport	Colin Osborne John Roecken Ron Masing	Toyota MR2 Bathurst	324	36
					Toyota 3S-GE 2.0L I4
25	9	31	Osborne Motorsport	Trevor Keene Scott Fleming Andrew Leithhead	Toyota MR2 Bathurst	196	37
					Toyota S engine 2.0L I4
DNF	1	24	Cirtek Motorsport	David Brabham Manfred Jurasz Allan Grice Darren Palmer	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	488	3
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
DNF	5	77	Nathan Pilkington	Nathan Pilkington Ian Mitchell Mark Williamson Elton Goonan	Nissan 350Z	436	25
					Nissan VQ35DE 3.5L V6
DNF	5	9	Anton Mechtler	Anton Mechtler Wayne Park Kevin Bell Bob Hughes	Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII	387	26
					Mitsubishi 4G63 2.0L Turbo I4
DNF	5	27	Novocastrian Motorsport	Wayne Russell Steve Cramp Garry Holt Darren Edwards	BMW M Coupe	384	21
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
DNF	10	41	Geoffrey Parker	Geoff Parker Jeff Watters David Sala Peter Gazzard	Holden Commodore VY	348	11
					Holden 5.0L V8
DNF	3	19	Bruce Miles	Bruce Miles Murray Cleland Gary Geeves	BMW 320i	263	8
					BMW S14 2.0L I4
DNF	5	5	Graham Alexander	Graham Alexander John Woodberry Barry Morcom	Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII	230	19
					Mitsubishi Sirius engine 2.0L Turbo I4
DNF	1	6	AD Holdings	Peter Floyd Chris Maries Rod Wilson Gary MacDonald	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	195	6
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
DNF	3	22	DCH Motorsport	Dennis Chapman Debbie Chapman Lindsay O'Donnell Scott O'Donnell	BMW 318i	126	22
					BMW S14 2.0L I4
DNF	1	888	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	John Bowe Brad Jones Paul Morris John Teulan	Ferrari 360 N-GT	96	1
					Ferrari 3.6L V8
DNF	1	52	Seikel Motorsport	Tony Burgess Andrew Bagnall John Lloyd Jürgen Alzen	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	58	5
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
DNS	1	999	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	Jim Richards Matt Weiland Maher Algadrie Peter Fitzgerald	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.

Statistics

• Pole Position - #888 Brad Jones - 2:15.0742
• Fastest Lap - #427 Garth Tander - 2:14.3267 (lap 359)
• Average Speed - 138 km/h

External links

• 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour images Retrieved from www.pbase.com on 1 December 2008

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20060821130631/http://www.procar.com.au/StatsBathurst24hr.pdf Bathurst 24 Hour Race, www.procar.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
2. http://racing.natsoft.com.au/results/#2 Natsoft Race Results
3. http://racing.natsoft.com.au/results/#2 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour results