Bathurst 12 Hour for the first time next February, will implement a ‘Full Course Yellow’ system at the IGTC curtain-raising.
The addition of FCY’s comes as part of a series of new innovations put in place ahead of the 2024 event. The decision has been made after a delegation from the event visited the Spa 24 Hours this year.
“The recent visit to the Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa with Motorsport Operations Manager, Paul Martin, gave us the opportunity to observe the FCY process that is used during the race,” Shane Rudzis, the Bathurst 12 Hour event director said.
“We had the opportunity to participate in a test of the system to fully understand how we could possibly implement it into the Bathurst 12 Hour event.
“The ability to neutralise the field very quickly is important for safety especially at a circuit such as Mount Panorama.”
Designed to give Race Control another tool to aid recoveries and safely manage on-track incidents during the race, the new Full Course Yellow (FCY) system will see all cars required to slow to 80 km/hr on the instruction of Race Control, potentially reducing the use of the Safety Car.
Cars must slow to the 80 km/hr benchmark within five seconds of the yellow flags being displayed and proceed at single file – with any car exceeding the FCY speed limit penalized.
Once the issue is resolved, a five-second countdown will be given before the FCY period is ended and cars are allowed to resume at racing speed.
Alternatively, a full Safety Car could subsequently be deployed should the situation require it.
The pit lane will remain open during the Full Course Yellow periods.
“This is an important safety innovation that will be very valuable for the team in Race Control, providing us with an opportunity to prepare the appropriate response for any incident,” said the Bathurst 12 Hour race director James Taylor.
“We will of course deploy the Safety Car when it is required, allowing us to bunch up the field and complete recoveries and ensure the safety of all our Officials at the event. We’re also pleased to confirm the wave-by system will stay in place as well, another important tool at Race Control’s disposal to keep the world-class race as safe as possible.”
This news comes after the 2023 edition of the race saw a record low of five Safety Car interruptions for a total of just 16 of the record 323 completed racing laps.
Other minor changes have been included in the event Sporting and Technical Regulations ahead of the 2024 event.
Pit stop regulations have seen minor changes, with a minimum total pit lane time of 85 seconds now in place for all refuelling or driver change pit stops throughout the race.
Stops that do not include refuelling or driver changes, including tyre-only stops, will not mandate a minimum pit stop time. Other key event regulations, including driver categorizations, class allocations and remain consistent with 2023.
The wave-by system will return in 2024, allowing cars one (1) or more laps behind – following the commencement of the third hour and prior to the final hour of the race – to pass the Safety Car and unlap themselves.
The event has also confirmed the permanent return of the popular Qualifying format implemented in 2022, which sees the top 10 competitors compete for the Allan Simonsen pole position award across a pair of flat-out, 15-minute sessions on Saturday afternoon.
The format was introduced two years ago and utilized again this year – producing a thrilling session that saw Maro Engel set the quickest-ever 12-hour qualifying lap of Mount Panorama as he charged to the Allan Simonsen Pole Award.
The race will again start at 5:45 am AEDT and finish 1 lap after 17:43pm that afternoon.
The 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour will be held across the February 16-18 weekend.
