2003 Bathurst 24 Hour Explained

The 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour was a motor race staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race started at 2:00pm on 22 November 2003 and finished at 2:00pm on 23 November. It was the second Bathurst 24 Hour.

The race featured five car classes and was intended as a showcase for the racing categories promoted by Procar Australia, namely Nations Cup cars, GT Performance Cars and Production Cars. It was also open to various other categories which included FIA Group N-GT and Grand-Am GT.

The race was won by Peter Brock, Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly driving a Holden Monaro 427C.

Class structure

Class A

The leading class contained vehicles eligible for international FIA N-GT, American Grand-Am GT and the Australian Nations Cup Group 1 category. It featured BMW M3 GTR, Ferrari 360 N-GT, Mosler MT900R, Porsche 996 GT3-RS, Porsche 996 GT3-RC, Lamborghini Diablo GTR, and the "Nations Cup" version of the Holden Monaro, the 427C

Class B

Consisted of Nations Cup Group 2 cars: Ferrari 360 Modena, Porsche 996 GT3 Cup and international GTs of varying kinds, Morgan Aero 8, Porsche 996 GT3 S and a modified BMW M Coupe.

Class D

A production based class featuring cars from the Australian GT Performance Car Championship. The entry consisted of BMW M Coupe, BMW M3, FPV GT, HSV X Series GTS, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII, Nissan 200SX, Nissan 350Z and Subaru Impreza WRX.

Class E

A production based class featuring cars from the Australian Production Car Championship. The entry consisted of Alfa Romeo 156 GTA, Ford Falcon XR6T, Holden Commodore VY, Honda Integra, Honda S2000 and Toyota Celica SX.

Class F

The class catered for a variety of vehicles which included Future Touring Ford Falcon, Holden VX Commodore & Holden VY Commodore, a Nürburgring VLN series BMW M3, a Supertouring BMW 320i, an old GT-Production BMW M3-R, New Zealand Schedule S touring car Toyota Altezza and Mitsubishi Mirage Cup one-make series cars.

Top 10 Qualifiers

The top 10 qualifiers for the 2003 Bathurst 24 Hour were as follows:^[1]

Pos	No	Team	Driver	Car	Qual
Pole	427	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Garth Tander	Holden Monaro 427C	2:13.2856
2	05	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Greg Murphy	Holden Monaro 427C	2:15.9739
3	420	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	John Bowe	BMW M3 GTR	2:17.6832
4	900	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short	Mosler MT900R	2:18.1074
5	54	John Teulan	Paul Morris	Porsche 996 GT3 RC	2:19.3319
6	20	Mark Coffey Racing	Paul Stokell	Lamborghini Diablo GTR	2:19.5626
7	48	BE Racing	David Brabham	Ferrari 360 N-GT	2:21.1258
8	6	Jürgen Alzen Motorsport	Jürgen Alzen	Porsche 996 GT3 S Cup	2:21.7062
9	7	VIP Petfoods Racing	Marcus Marshall	Porsche 996 GT3 Cup	2:22.8980
10	8	Cirtek Motorsport	Peter Floyd	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	2:23.2392

Official results

Results as follows:^[2]

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Laps	Qual Pos
					Engine
1	A	05	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Peter Brock Greg Murphy Jason Bright Todd Kelly	Holden Monaro 427C	527	2
					Chevrolet LS6 7.0L V8
2	A	427	Garry Rogers Motorsport	Nathan Pretty Garth Tander Steven Richards Cameron McConville	Holden Monaro 427C	527	1
					Chevrolet LS6 7.0L V8
3	A	54	John Teulan	Peter Fitzgerald Paul Morris John Teulan Scott Shearman	Porsche 996 GT3 RC	515	5
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
4	B	6	Jürgen Alzen Motorsport	Jürgen Alzen Uwe Alzen Michael Bartels Arno Klasen	Porsche 996 GT3 S Cup	514	8
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
5	A	900	Rollcentre Racing	Martin Short Patrick Pearce Charles Lamb Heather Spurle	Mosler MT900R	507	4
					Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
6	B	7	VIP Petfoods Racing	Tony Quinn Marcus Marshall Klark Quinn Grant Denyer	Porsche 996 GT3 Cup	495	9
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
7	A	8	Cirtek Motorsport	Peter Floyd Ian Donaldson Andrew Donaldson Liz Halliday	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	491	10
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
8	A	20	Mark Coffey Racing	Paul Stokell Allan Simonsen Luke Youlden Peter Hackett	Lamborghini Diablo GTR	487	6
					Lamborghini 6.0L V12
9	D	71	Peter Boylan	Peter Boylan Geoff Morgan Rick Bates Peter Hansen	BMW M3	469	19
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
10	F	59	Steve Williams	Steve Williams Graham Moore Terry Bosnjak	Holden VX Commodore	460	18
					Holden 5.0L V8
11	D	27	Novacastrian Motorsport	Wayne Russell Steve Cramp Mark King Paul Stubber	BMW M Coupe	459	28
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
12	F	41	Geoffrey Parker	Geoff Parker Jeff Watters David Sala Peter Gazzard	Holden VY Commodore	451	16
					Holden 5.0L V8
13	D	60	Protecnica Racing	Wayne Boatwright Rod Salmon Glen Hastings Neil Caswell	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	449	32
					Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4
14	D	2	Garry Holt	Garry Holt Gary Young Michael Brock Kevin Mundy	Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII	445	22
					Mitsubishi 4G63 2.0L Turbo I4
15	D	91	Peters Motorsport	Gary Deane Robert Rubis Dean Wanless	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	439	26
					Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4
16	E	13	Osborne Motorsport	Colin Osborne John Roecken Trevor Keene Steve Grocl	Toyota Celica SX	436	43
					Toyota 2ZZ-GE 1.8L I4
17	D	3	Bendigo Motorsports	Craig Dean Chris Smith Bill Pye	FPV BA GT	434	36
					Ford Modular 5.4L V8
18	F	23	Bruce Lynton	Bruce Lynton Beric Lynton Jamie Cartwright Matthew Jackson	BMW M3-R	431	23
					BMW M50 3.0L I6
19	F	18	Amin Chahda	Amin Chahda Andrew Gillespie Brett McFarland	Ford Falcon EL XR8	427	33
					Ford Windsor 5.0L V8
20	E	95	John McIlroy	John McIlroy Ken Douglas Chris Stillwell Phil Kirkham	Ford Falcon BA XR6T	427	39
					Ford Barra 4.0L Turbo I6
21	E	31	Osborne Motorsport	Stephen Borness Ash Samadi David Ratcliff Andrew Bretherton	Toyota Celica SX	424	45
					Toyota 2ZZ-GE 1.8L I4
22	F	37	Donut King Racing	Peter Leemhuis Shane Brangwin Tony Alford John Grounds	Mitsubishi Mirage	421	38
					Mitsubishi 1.5L I4
23	B	4	Sterling Motorsport	VJ Angelo Ric Shaw Mark Williamson Scott O'Donnell	BMW M Coupe	419	17
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
24	F	42	Barrie Thomlinson Motorsport	Barrie Thomlinson Barrie Thomlinson Jr. Andrew Neale Mike Eady	Toyota Altezza	411	30
					Toyota 3S-GE 2.0L I4
25	B	11	Motorsport Innovations	Richard Wilson Theo Koundouris Paul Jenkins Ian Palmer	Ferrari 360 Modena	392	25
					Ferrari 3.6L V8
26	E	62	Scott Loadsman	Scott Loadsman David Russell Ian Luff Warren Luff	Holden Commodore VY SS	382	35
					Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
27	E	45	Allan Shephard	Allan Shephard Martin Bailey Greg Doyle	Honda Integra Type-R	380	44
					Honda B18C 1.8L I4
28	D	44	MGC Racing	Mark Cohen Fabian Coulthard Geoff Emery Tony Blanche	HSV VX GTS 300	336	31
					Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8
29	D	200	Haysom Motorsport	Greg Haysom Rodney Woods Michael Robinson Graham Hunt	Nissan 200SX Spec-R	290	40
					Nissan SR20DET 2.0L Turbo I4
30	A	70	Graham Nash Motorsport	Mike Newton Thomas Erdos Manfred Jurasz Rod Wilson	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	280	11
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
31	D	17	Team GT	Trevor Haines John Falk James Phillip Trevor Sheumack	FPV BA GT	232	29
					Ford Modular 5.4L V8
32	D	222	Haysom Motorsport	Hugh Harrison Richard Catchlove Mike Kirkpatrick Damian Johnson	Nissan 200SX Spec-R	125	34
					Nissan SR20DET 2.0L Turbo I4
33	F	301	SAE Racing	Alan Gurr Luke Searle Alex Yoong Geoff Full	BMW 320i	50	14
					BMW S14 2.0L I4
DNF	A	888	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	Des Wall Will Power Paul Freestone James Koundouris	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	474	13
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
DNF	E	28	Ross Palmer Motorsport	Anton Mechtler Charlie Kovacs James Brock Mark Brame	Honda S2000	411	37
					Honda F20C 2.0L I4
DNF	E	156	GTA Motorsport	Andrew Leithhead Peter Doulman Keith Downie Keen Booker	Alfa Romeo 156 GTA	353	42
					Alfa Romeo 3.2L V6
DNF	A	24	Cirtek Motorsport	Tim Harvey Jonathan Rowland Hermann Tilke Melinda Price	Porsche 996 GT3-RS	325	12
					Porsche 3.6L Flat-6
DNF	A	48	BE Racing	David Brabham Klaus Engelhorn Andrea Montermini Philipp Peter	Ferrari 360 N-GT	287	7
					Ferrari 3.6L V8
DNF	D	57	Graham Alexander	Graham Alexander John Woodberry Brett Youlden Bob Hughes	Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII	186	20
					Mitsubishi 4G63 2.0L Turbo I4
DNF	A	420	Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia	John Bowe Neil Crompton Greg Crick Maher Algadrie	BMW M3 GTR	131	3
					BMW N62 5.0L V8
DNF	B	66	Adam Sharpe Motorsport	Neil Cunningham Adam Sharpe Keith Ahlers Tom Shrimpton	Morgan Aero 8	97	15
					BMW M62 4.6L V8
DNF	D	77	Nathan Pilkington	Nathan Pilkington Dennis Cribbin Roland Hill Ryan Hooker	Nissan 350Z	65	27
					Nissan VQ35DE 3.5L V6
DNF	D	26	Novacastrian Motorsport	Mark Westbrook Wayne Moore Ian Mitchell Clayton Pyne	BMW M Coupe	62	21
					BMW M54 3.2L I6
DNF	D	75	Aaron McGill	Aaron McGill David Auger Ross Halliday Martin Miller	Nissan 200SX Spec-R	42	41
					Nissan SR20DET 2.0L Turbo I4
DNF	F	40	Duller Motorsport	Frank Mountain Robert Brooks Rob Wilson Daniel Gooding	BMW M3	25	24
					BMW M52 3.2L I6

Statistics

• Pole Position - #427 Garth Tander - 2:13.2856
• Fastest Lap - #427 Garth Tander - 2:14.4894 (lap 524)
• Average Speed - 136 km/h

External links

• Bathurst 24hr - 19th to 23rd November 2003 - Supplementary Regulations, bathurst24hr.com, as archived at web.archive.org
• 24hr 2003 - Provisional Entrants List, www.bathurst24hr.com, as archived at web.archive.org
• Bathurst 24hr - Race results, www.procar.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org
• Race results, www.natsoft.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20041227185244/http://www.procar.com.au/newsitem.asp?news_id=1171&event_id=38 Back Holden Heroes Grab Pole Position For Bathurst 24-hr International Race
2. http://www.natsoft.com.au/cgi-bin/results.cgi?23/11/2003.MOUN Mount Panorama - Bathurst 23/11/2003 Bathurst 24hr 2003