Bathurst 12H Returns to Traditional Date in 2025

The Bathurst 12 Hour will return to its traditional, early-February date in 2025, avoiding a date clash with the Asian Le Mans Series while also reversing a previous decision to create a larger gap with the Rolex 24 at Daytona to accommodate U.S. teams.

The Australian enduro, which traditionally serves as the opening round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, will take place on Jan. 31-Feb. 2.

As a result, the event will take place the weekend after the Rolex 24 at Daytona, which will run on Jan. 25-26.

This year’s edition of the Bathurst event was held on Feb. 16-18, which was seen as an initiative to allow more North American teams to take part in the event.

In a statement announcing the new date, event organizer Supercars noted that “the shift back to the earlier, traditional date ensures the event will continue to avoid clashes with other major international races, ensuring the maximum opportunity for the world’s best GT teams and drivers to attend.”

The Asian Le Mans Series, which announced its six-race schedule last month, will host double header events in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Feb. 7-9 and Feb. 14-16, respectively.

SRO Motorsports Group CEO and founder Stephane Ratel directly cited the potential for a date clash with the Asian LMS as a factor in the decision to return Bathurst to its traditional date next year.

“2025 has the potential to be the biggest Bathurst 12 Hour yet thanks to several new manufacturers entering the GT3 space and a growing number of Fanatec GT World Challenge Australia powered by AWS entries,” said Ratel.

“This is a bucket list event for international teams and drivers, and also highly prized by manufacturers, but a strong domestic environment is vitally important for any Intercontinental GT Challenge round to truly flourish. Indeed, it is a cornerstone of the series’ philosophy.

“Moving the date back to its traditional slot also avoids clashing with the Asian Le Mans Series – a major consideration for our local and regional base.”

This year’s edition of the event featured a 31-car field, headlined by 12 Pro entries and was won by Manthey EMA and Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell and Ayhancan Guven.

The event attracted other international entries, including from The Heart of Racing and SunEnergy1 Racing, as well as Team WRT, Phantom Global Racing and IGTC regulars Craft-Bamboo Racing and GruppeM Racing.

“It’s great to have the dates locked in for 2025 and know that the world will return to Mount Panorama across the January 31 – February 2 weekend next year,” said event director Shane Rudzis.

“We need to be flexible and dynamic in scheduling the race to ensure it fits within the international calendar each year which is why the date has shifted two weeks earlier in 2025.

“The level of interest and excitement in the race is already high and we’ve had fantastic discussions with current entrants and new teams and brands who are keen to race next February.

“At the same time, we continue to review all elements of the event to continue the improvements already put in place in 2023 and 2024, to not only grow the event but add to the experience for everyone attending.

“We’re very proud of the growth of the Bathurst 12 Hour. We’ve seen over the last two years huge crowds, camping records broken, amazing world-class vehicle demonstrations on track setting scintillating lap times, legends of world motorsport coming back yearly, amazing activations and car displays, plus much more.

“Where to from here? Stay tuned!”