The 2025 Bathurst 12-Hour grid once again sees a string mix of international talent locking horns with some of the best of Australia’s motorsport teams and drivers in a 22-car field.
While the car count is down significantly from last year’s 30, there will still be a healthy battle for overall honours, with nine cars in the Pro category; and any of them could take the win in Australia’s premier international endurance race.
Cars from Porsche, Audi, Mercedes, and BMW continue in the Pro class at the Bathurst 12 Hour from last year, while Ferrari joins the grid for the first time since 2020, with Arise Racing GT entering a Ferrari 296 in the Pro and Pro-Am categories.
With five manufacturers, it’s the most variety we’ve seen in the outright category since the return of the race after the Covid-enforced interruption in 2021.
Here’s a look at the Pro class field, brand by brand:
Ferrari
Ferrari (which has signed up to be an IGTC manufacturer this year) returns to the Bathurst 12 Hour with reigning GTWC Australia champion team, Arise Racing GT.
The first year of Arise Racing was a resounding success, with the Mostert/Talbot combination transferring from Audi to Ferrari without missing a beat, retaining the GTWC Australia championship at the first attempt.
The Pro-entered Ferrari 296 GT3 sees Chaz Mostert joined by current Australian Supercars Champion Will Brown, and two-time Le Mans GTE-Pro class winner Daniel Serra.
Serra is an experienced Ferrari factory driver, but his sole journey to The Mountain in 2020 saw the car not even make the grid, as Serra was one of five pre-race victims on a crazy Saturday at The Mountain; Serra’s crash at McPhillamy Park left the Hub Auto Corse 488 too damaged to compete come race day.
His international achievements, however, speak for themselves, two GTE-Pro wins at Le Mans, two further podiums, class wins at Daytona, Petit Le Mans, multiple Stock Car Brazil Championships and recent wins in both the ELMS and Asian Le Mans Series.
His inclusion is a definite statement of intent from Ferrari, and joining two of Australia’s best steerers makes this already a formidable line-up.
Will Brown and Chaz Mostert were embroiled in two separate championship fights last year – one in Supercars, one in GTWC Australia – and shared success in both categories with some great racing in between.
It was Brown who prevailed in the Supercars Championship, with an unmatched level of consistency across the whole season, while the Mostert/Talbot combination proved strongest in the GTWC Australia standings, besting Brown and Brad Schumacher with a round to spare.
There’s a strong argument that Mostert and Brown are the two best drivers in Australia at the moment, and combining for the Bathurst 12 Hour makes this a strong line-up against the rest of the world.
BMW
WRT returns to Mount Panorama as the only team running two Pro entries; the two BMW M4 GT3’s once again running under the Belgian-flagged team. WRT are looking for a bit of redemption at the Mountain – after setting Pole last year and dominating the early running, it turned into a difficult weekend for the BMWs, with one car crashing out in spectacular fashion while the other missed the podium at the end of the race.
Both cars see changes from last year’s running; the #32 sees Augusto Farfus return to The Mountain after a year away, joining the returning Sheldon van der Linde, and the addition of his brother Kelvin van der Linde, while the #46 features Valentino Rossi, driving with Raffaele Marciello, and current IGTC champion Charles Weerts.
Having both van der Linde brothers is an exciting prospect, considering their hero status at the circuit, and with Rossi in the #46, both cars are expected to have plenty of interest from fans at The Mountain.
The M4 has proven to be a fast car on the Mount Panorama, with a Pole Position last year and a lot of strong running at the head of the field over the last two years, however, speed hasn’t converted into wins.
Both cars faded in 2023 as the race progressed, while last year the #32 was eliminated in dramatic fashion at The Cutting before half distance. WRT will be hoping to put that to rights and earn BMW its first win at Bathurst since the production-car era.
Audi
Audi is represented in the Pro class once again at Mount Panorama with the late inclusion of the Jamec Racing Audi R8 run by Melbourne Performance Centre, with reigning Nürburgring 24 Hours winner Ricardo Feller joining Australian Supercars runner-up Broc Feeney and current GTWC Australia champion Liam Talbot, back behind the wheel of an Audi for the first time since last year’s 12 Hour.
The team was only put together in early 2025 and will run the number 183, a testament to the number of Audi R8 LMS GT3 machines produced.
Audi has been a stalwart at The Mountain since the dawn of the GT3 era, taking victory in the first two editions in 2010 and 2011, and the late entry continues the 15-year history of Audi GT at the event.
It has been lean pickings since, however; a single victory in 2018 (by team WRT ) has been the only headline result for the brand, which has suffered some near misses in recent outings. Ricardo Feller has been positively rapid in New South Wales but without much luck – all three of his attempts have seen the car finish many laps down after reliability issues, despite some incredible pace from the Swiss driver.
Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney would be another in the conversation for ‘best Australian drivers’, with second place in the Australian Supercars Championship earned all while pushing his teammate to the wire for much of the season. His 12 Hour outings, at the wheel of Triple Eight Mercedes machinery have been thrilling, with Feeney given qualifying duties and last year, and qualifying second in the shootout. It will however be his first outing in an Audi, after racing mostly the Mercedes example.
For Talbot, his Bronze rating disguises his speed and discipline, and at Bathurst he has shown that he is capable of hassling the Pro-rated drivers and proving very hard to pass. Make no mistake, this car is a true outright contender.
Porsche
While reigning Bathurst 12 Hour Champion Manthey EMA is missing the event this year to focus on WEC preparations, Porsche is still well in the hunt, represented by Absolute Racing. Not only that; it brings two of last year’s winning trio to the event, as well as one of the Pro-Am winning drivers as well.
Alessio Picariello joins Ayhancan Guven and Matt Campbell, who stormed to victory last year in the changing conditions. The #912 came alive in the damp conditions, with both Guven and Campbell never putting a foot wrong on their way to dominate the second half of the race. Both have had successful 2024’s – Güven narrowly finished second in the Intercontinental GT Challenge standings along with second at the Nurburgring 24 Hour, while Campbell took podium positions at Imola, Sao Paulo, and Bahrain in WEC to go with podiums at Sebring and Petit Le Mans in IMSA competition.
The trio importantly have plenty of experience in the Porsche 911 GT3 992, as well as class-winning experience at Bathurst. With a line-up including two reigning champions, a home-grown hero, and a class winner, this car will certainly be a contender.
Mercedes-AMG
Mercedes-AMG has four entries in the Pro class, making up almost half of the overall contending entries. The challenge from Mercedes features some true international superstars, alongside some of Australia’s very best, as the German marque looks to become the outright leader in race-wins at the 12 Hour.
The entry is headlined by two-time race winner, SunEnergy1 Racing, of Kenny Habul, Luca Stolz, and Jules Gounon. This trio needs no introduction; after winning the 2022 edition in the Pro-Am formula, Habul returned with the same trio and pushed the car into Pro class, and incredibly, prevailed in what was a win for the ages.
While Gounon was the hero at the end of both races – holding off Maro Engel in 2022, and defending against Engel and Campbell in 2023 – the work done by Stolz in the middle part of the race helped set the team up on both occasions.
Gounon also has a win to himself, in 2020 as part of the Bentley M-Sport outfit, making him the driver with the most wins at the 12 Hour in the GT3 era.
SunEnergy1 has consistently run up front and was only 2.6 seconds from an incredible three-peat last year. It has shown that they can be contenders for outright victory regardless of the competition.
Internationally backed AMG entries come from Craft Bamboo Racing and Team GMR, with both teams bringing plenty of firepower in search of their first Bathurst victories.
2011 and 2012 winner Darryl O’Young’s team returns with Lucas Auer joining Maximillian Goetz and Jayden Ojeda in the #77, in a great mix of international superstars and local talent.
Goetz has been a stalwart of the Mercedes-AMG programme since 2014, winning what was the Blancpain Sprint Series that year, while Auer won last year’s GTWC Europe Sprint Cup in 2024. They join local star Jayden Ojeda, who joined the Mercedes-AMG Junior Driver programme late last year off the back of a string of impressive outings in Mercedes machinery in GTWC Australia.
Team GMR returns to Bathurst with its traditional #888 number and a stunning test bars-themed livery, bringing along drivers Maro Engel, Mikael Grenier, and new arrival Maxime Martin, for just his second race in Mercedes machinery.
All three drivers have plenty of experience at Bathurst, but unfortunately, not all of it good. Both Grenier and Engel were tangled up in a controversial end to the 2023 race, where contact with eventual winner Jules Gounon saw Engel penalised, finishing third on the day.
While, for Grenier, it was a close result on debut, for Engel, Bathurst is the final piece of an incredible sportscar career that has continued to elude the experienced German. The addition of Martin, who is a successful and experienced driver in a new environment, can only strengthen the already powerful team.
The final car on the entry is the #222 Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes, again running in support of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. Supercars Tickford Racing teammates Cameron Waters and Thomas Randle join Australian racing royalty in the form of Craig Lowndes once again, racing to promote awareness and funding and of course, to win the race.
With eight other incredible line-ups to contend with though, picking a winner for the Bathurst 12 Hour is anyone’s guess!
Images courtesy of GMR, STM, Arise GT, WRT, Absolute Racing & JAMEC PEM
