Joining the nine Pro-class cars in the Bathurst 12 Hour are 13 machines split into five subcategories, featuring nine further GT3 machines, three GT4 cars, and a single Invitational entry.
Each class features a great mix of experienced Ams, up-and-coming pros, and some popular Aussies, ensuring plenty to keep an eye on amongst the undercard of the overall race.
Silver Cup
Silver Cup, for Am driver line ups is limited to one Gold-rated driver, and will be contested by three cars, all of whom are regular competitors in the GTWC Australia competition. However, the series regulars are also joined by some unexpected names!
Volante Rosso Motorsport are bringing along their #14 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, dressed in a brilliant Gulf livery for the weekend.
Aussie Jaylyn Robotham, who has competed in the Bathurst 1000 for the past three years, makes his 12 Hour debut alongside two Aston Martin Academy drivers; Jamie Day and Mateo Villagomez. The pair raced in the GT4 European Series together in 2024, driving the Aston Martin AMR GT4, with Day taking the Silver category in British GT4 as well.
All three drivers are making their Bathurst 12 Hour debut, in what is the youngest combination of the event.
Supabarn Tigani Motorsport returns with the #47 Mercedes-AMG. Brothers James and Theo Koundouris will be joined once again by David Russell and Luke Youlden. Russell has been a regular co-driver of the Koundouris duo, with Youlden being added to the group that competed last year. Both Russell and Youlden have Supercars co-driver experience, and joining the experienced Koundouris duo will make this a strong contender.
Wall Racing also returns with its #93 BASF-inspired Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO II, with Bronze-driver Adrian Deitz joined by long-term Supercars co-driver Tony D’Alberto, Bathurst 6 Hour winner and Australian TV personality Grant Denyer, and adding Brendon Leitch to the line up for 2025.
Leitch had a breakout season in GTWC Australia in 2024, powering the Dayle ITM Audi he shared with Tim Miles to multiple race wins across the season. Look for his stints to be particularly impressive during the race.
Pro-Am
The only stipulation for Pro-Am cars is the line-ups must feature a Bronze-rated driver. Critically, the Bronze must complete one hour of running after the halfway point in the race, ensuring the Bronze driver plays a significant part in the outcome of the race.
Three cars are racing in Pro-Am, with three different brands represented.
Ferrari is represented by the #36 Arise Racing GT Ferrari, with regular GTWC Australia combination Elliot Schutte and Jaxon Evans (pictured below last season) joined by GTWC Australia runner-up and Bathurst local Brad Schumacher, and Ferrari factory driver Alessio Rovera.
Schutte graduated into GT3 through Australian Prototype racing, first being picked up by Method Motorsport for GT4 before joining Arise for last season’s GTWC Australia, and combining with Jaxon Evans, the pair took a race win on their way to third in the standings.
Schumacher, who eventually bested Schutte and Evans to second in the championship alongside Will Brown, joins the team as a second Bronze, however, his speed at Bathurst will ensure that car will remain strong through its Am stints.
Adding Ferrari factory driver Alessio Rovera, who has a class win at Le Mans, will certainly put the team with a chance of an overall result should the cards fall their way.
Geyer Valmont Racing bring the #44 Audi R8 LMS Evo II with regular GTWC Australia pair Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua and Australian Scott Andrews. Andrews has spent much of his recent career in the IMSA championship, winning the LMP3 class at the 24 hours of Daytona in 2021, along with an Endurance Cup trophy.
Zalloua and Pires took five wins in the Am category of GTWC Australia last season, on their way to second in the championship, but the gap between Am and Pro-Am will be a significant one to bridge.
Rounding out the Pro-Am entry is last year’s winner, Manthey EMA with the #91 The Bend Porsche 911. The team features reigning Le Mans 24 Hours GT3 champions Yasser Shahin and Morris Schuring, alongside IMSA GTD Pro champion Laurin Heinrich, and Yasser’s brother, former Carrera Cup Australia Am champion Sam Shahin.
After winning the Pro-Am class at the 12 Hour last year, Yasser Shahin went on to a successful WEC GT3 campaign, with Schuring as a co-driver, finishing second in the championship but taking the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Sam’s return to the 12 Hour is significant after his last attempt resulted in broken vertebrae in a sickening shunt during qualifying in 2020, where he was tagged into the wall at Skyline before being clipped by another car. Similar to the Arise Racing Pro-Am car, if the right drivers are in at the right time, this car could be in the mix for the overall result come the end of the race.
Bronze
The Bronze category features teams with two Ams – one of which must be Bronze – or a Bronze driver with two Golds. And this year two Mercedes will compete in this class, alongside an Audi.
The #4 Grove Racing Mercedes AMG features the father/son driving duo of Stephen and Brenton Grove, being joined by German Mercedes ace Fabian Schiller. It is the first 12-hour outing for the Groves in a Mercedes after many years running Porsche Carrera Cup and GT3 machinery.
Stephen holds the record for the most class victories in the event, with five Class B victories in seven events between 2014 and 2020.
In the #9 Hallmarc Racing Audi (featured), the streak continues for the most entries and longest retained combination, with the 14th entry (and 11th in a row!) for Marc Cini. He is once again joined by regular co-driver pairing Dean Fiore and 2022 Bathurst 1000 winner Lee Holdsworth, with the hopes that they can finally crack a class victory in the Audi R8.
Returning to the Mountain is the #27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes, with bronze-rated Ian James and platinum-rated Ross Gunn being joined by Zacharie Robichon for his Bathurst 12 Hour debut.
Last year saw an incredible run by the Heart of Racing team in their debut at the event, however, a late penalty scuppered its chances of a class victory in Pro-Am, with a drive-through relegating it to Second place. The ambitious Seattle-based outfit be hoping to go one better this time around!
GT4
GT4 sees the return of three cars from last year’s event.
In the #19 Nineteen Corp Mercedes, the reigning GT4 lineup returns; Mark Griffith and Daniel Bilski are once again rejoined by Nürburgring specialist Adam Christodoulou, to see if they can repeat their successes from last year.
Method Motorsport is once again bringing two GT4 McLaren Artura’s to the event, after a successful first season of competition saw them win the Pro-Am, Silver, and Am categories of Monochrome GT4 Australia. This year the #24 will feature Cameron Campbell, Jake Santalucia, and Anthony Levitt, while the #25 is shared between Paul Buccini, Tom Hayman, and Ryan Sorensen.
Levitt has been a successful Production Car racer in Australia, while Santalucia has impressed in Porsche Sprint Challenge. On the other side of the garage, Hayman was part of the Pro-Am GT4 winning combination, while Buccini has raced in Production Cars, and Sorensen in open wheelers.
The GT4 cars will be significantly slower than the GT3 counterparts, so keeping clean will be the focus as the faster machinery attempts to navigate through the slower category.
Invitational
The Invitational class is reduced to a solitary entry after the MARC Cars, which have been a near-constant of the Bathurst 12 Hour grid, have moved into the Combined Sedans support category.
The remaining entry is the #50 Vantage Team KTM X-Bow GT2 of David Crampton, Trent Harrison, and Glen Wood. While this is the fourth entry for the X-Bow GT2, it is yet to leave an impression on the race, failing to even make the grid on the last two occasions.
The goal for the team, without competition, will be simple: Make it to the end.
With 13 cars in 5 categories, there will be plenty going on in the lower categories of the Bathurst 12 Hour for 2025!
Missed out on our Pro class preview? Catch up HERE >>>
