The 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour was an endurance motor race staged at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. The race, which was the first 24-hour event to be held at Mount Panorama, started at 4:00pm on 16 November and finished at 4:00pm on 17 November. It was the first 24 Hour race to be held in Australia since the 1954 Mount Druitt 24 Hours Road Race.

The race was open to several classes of GT and other production based cars and was intended as a showcase for the racing categories promoted by PROCAR, which included Nations Cup, GT Performance and GT Production. While there was much speculation about the highly popular V8 Brute Utes class also being eligible there was resistance to the idea and they ran short sprint races as a support category. Ten classes were announced, but only five classes attracted entries.

The race was won by Garth Tander, Steven Richards, Nathan Pretty and Cameron McConville driving a Holden Monaro. The Holden quartet completed 532 laps of the long public road circuit for a total distance of .

Group structure The race was open to entries in ten Groups.Bathurst 24 Hour Race, www.procar.com.au, as archived at web.archive.org

Group 1 For FIA N-GT, British GTO, All Japan GT and Nations Cup (Group 1) cars. It featured the Ferrari 360 N-GT, Mosler MT900R, Porsche 996 GT3-RS, Porsche 996 GT3 Cup and the controversial Holden Monaro 427C which did not have a production counterpart.

Group 2 For Porsche Supercup cars. No entries were received.

Group 3 For Nations Cup (Group 2) cars and Super Touring Cars. Only three BMWs entered, Super Touring versions of the 318i and 320i and a modified Z3 M Coupe.

Group 4 For FIA Super 2000 cars. No entries were received.

Group 5 For Australian GT Performance Cars. The entry consisted of BMW ME Coupe, Ford Tickford T3 TE50, HSV Y Series GTS, Mazda RX-7 Series 8, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Nissan 200SX, Nissan 350Z and Subaru Impreza WRX STi.

Group 6 For FIA Group N cars (3001cc and over). No entries were received.

Group 7 For FIA Group N cars (2500cc-3000cc). No entries were received.

Group 8 For FIA Super Production cars and New Zealand Schedule S cars. No entries were received.

Group 9 For Australian GT Production Cars. The entry consisted of BMW 323i, Holden VX Commodore, Honda S2000 and Toyota MR2 Bathurst.

Group 10 For Invited cars including Future Tourers and Mirage series cars. Entries included Future Tourer Holden Commodores and a Holden V8 engined Mitsubishi Magna, a pair of Nürburgring VLN series BMW M3s and Mitsubishi Mirages.

Top 10 Qualifiers The top 10 qualifiers for the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour were as follows:Natsoft Race Results Pos No Team Driver Car Qual Pole 888 Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia Brad Jones Ferrari 360 N-GT 2:15.0742 2 427 Garry Rogers Motorsport Cameron McConville Holden Monaro 427C 2:17.7269 3 24 Cirtek Motorsport David Brabham Porsche 996 GT3-RS 2:19.5861 4 11 Rollcentre Racing Martin Short Mosler MT900R 2:21.4492 5 52 Seikel Motorsport Tony Burgess Porsche 996 GT3-RS 2:22.7314 6 6 AD Holdings Peter Floyd Porsche 996 GT3-RS 2:23.8472 7 33 Pro-Duct Motorsport Bob Pearson Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo 2:28.4775 8 19 Bruce Miles Bruce Miles BMW 320i 2:28.7187 9 40 Compuware Terry Bosnjak Mitsubishi Magna 2:28.8974 10 15 Duller Motorsport Ian Donaldson BMW M3 2:29.0311 * During the first qualifying session, the #999 PHR Scuderia Porsche 996 GT3-RS driven by Jim Richards set a time of 2:20.4364 which would have placed the car 4th on the grid. However, later during that same qualifying session, Peter Fitzgerald crashed on the top of the mountain which damaged the car beyond immediate repair. PHR were then forced to substitute team owner Maher Algadrie's Porsche 996 GT3 Cup car in the race. Due to having to substitute cars, the original lap time did not count and the GT3 Cup car eventually qualified in 14th place.* According to Monaro driver Cameron McConville, as he was such a late addition to the driving line up only a week prior to the race when it was decided that 4 drivers would be better than 3, his first drive of the car actually came in the qualifying session where he managed to set the car's fastest qualifying time, good enough for 2nd on the grid.* At the recent Sandown 500, the Ferrari 360 N-GT's were severely restricted on top speed by Procar's FIA approved air restrictors. With these allowed to be removed for Bathurst, Brad Jones found enough speed in the 3.6L V8 Ferrari to put it on pole position.

Official results Results as follows2002 Bathurst 24 Hour results Pos Group No Team Drivers Chassis Laps QualPos Engine 1 1 427 Garry Rogers Motorsport Garth Tander Steven Richards Nathan Pretty Cameron McConville Holden Monaro 427C 532 2 Chevrolet LS6 7.0L V8 2 1 11 Rollcentre Racing Martin Short Mark Pashley Charles Lamb Dilantha Malagamuwa Mosler MT900R 509 4 Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8 3 10 16 Duller Motorsport Howard Redhouse Peter Hannen Domenic Beninca BMW M3 505 12 BMW M52 3.2L I6 4 10 15 Duller Motorsport Ian Donaldson Robert Brooks Rob Wilson Andrew Donaldson BMW M3 497 10 BMW M52 3.2L I6 5 3 35 Sterling Motorsport VJ Angelo Ric Shaw Mathew Marsh Ross Buckingham BMW M Coupe 496 16 BMW M54 3.2L I6 6 5 71 Peter Boylan Peter Boylan Damien White Peter McKay BMW M3 491 15 BMW M54 3.2L I6 7 5 23 Peters Racing Brett Peters Gary Deane Robert Rubis John Falk Subaru Impreza WRX STi 482 17 Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4 8 5 60 Protecnica Racing Scott Anderson Wayne Boatwright Ross Almond Ross Halliday Subaru Impreza WRX STi 475 20 Subaru EJ 2.0L Turbo Flat-4 9 5 17 Trevor Haines Trevor Haines Mark King Trevor Sheumack James Phillip Ford Tickford T3 TE50 474 22 Ford Windsor 5.6L V8 10 9 62 Scott Loadsman Scott Loadsman Ian Luff Ray Lintott David Russell Holden Commodore VX SS 463 33 Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8 11 10 44 Mal Rose Gary Young Gary Quartly Anthony Robson Mitsubishi Mirage 459 29 Mitsubishi 1.5L I4 12 10 14 David Borg David Borg Allan Shepherd Jack Elsegood Mitsubishi Mirage 457 30 Mitsubishi 1.5L I4 13 9 26 Novocastrian Motorsport Wayne Moore Roger Townshend Klark Quinn Tony Blanche BMW 323i 455 34 BMW M52 2.5L I4 14 9 29 Ross Palmer Motorsport Peter Hansen Hermann Tilke Melinda Price Honda S2000 451 31 Honda F20C 2.0L I4 15 1 99 Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia Jim Richards Matt Weiland Maher Algadrie Peter Fitzgerald Porsche 996 GT3 R 451 14 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 16 5 200 Haysom Motorsport Greg Haysom Craig Dean Paul Stubber Chris Smith Nissan 200SX Spec-R 448 32 Nissan SR20DET 2.0L Turbo I4 17 10 32 Steve Williams Steve Williams Graham Moore Mike Kilpatrick Holden Commodore VX 438 13 Holden 5.0L V8 18 5 220 Haysom Motorsport Tony Quinn Tony Alford John Grounds Grant Denyer Nissan 200SX Spec-R 426 25 Nissan SR engine 2.0L Turbo I4 19 10 28 Mal Rose Mal Rose Peter Leemhuis Shane Brangwin Mitsubishi Mirage 425 28 Mitsubishi 1.5L I4 20 5 45 Allan Walls Allan Walls Dennis Cribbin Roland Hill HSV GTS 300kW 424 26 Chevrolet LS1 5.7L V8 21 5 222 Haysom Motorsport Ray Ayton Rodney Woods Hugh Harrison Michael Robinson Nissan 200SX Spec-R 424 27 Nissan SR engine 2.0L Turbo I4 22 10 40 Palmer Promotions Terry Bosnjak Warren Luff Ian Palmer Ray Sidebottom Mitsubishi Magna 420 9 Holden 5.0L V8 23 5 33 Pro-Duct Motorsport Bob Pearson Mark Brame Bruce Stewart Peter Roma Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo 364 7 Mazda 13B-REW 1.3L Rotary 24 9 13 Osborne Motorsport Colin Osborne John Roecken Ron Masing Toyota MR2 Bathurst 324 35 Toyota 3S-GE 2.0L I4 25 9 31 Osborne Motorsport Trevor Keene Scott Fleming Andrew Leithhead Toyota MR2 Bathurst 196 36 Toyota S engine 2.0L I4 DNF 1 24 Cirtek Motorsport David Brabham Manfred Jurasz Allan Grice Darren Palmer Porsche 996 GT3-RS 488 3 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 DNF 5 77 Nathan Pilkington Nathan Pilkington Ian Mitchell Mark Williamson Elton Goonan Nissan 350Z 436 21 Nissan VQ35DE 3.5L V6 DNF 5 9 Anton Mechtler Anton Mechtler Wayne Park Kevin Bell Bob Hughes Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII 387 23 Mitsubishi 4G63 2.0L Turbo I4 DNF 5 27 Novocastrian Motorsport Wayne Russell Steve Cramp Garry Holt Darren Edwards BMW M Coupe 384 19 BMW M54 3.2L I6 DNF 10 41 Geoffrey Parker Geoff Parker Jeff Watters David Sala Peter Gazzard Holden Commodore VY 348 11 Holden 5.0L V8 DNF 3 19 Bruce Miles Bruce Miles Murray Cleland Gary Geeves BMW 320i 263 8 BMW S14 2.0L I4 DNF 5 5 Graham Alexander Graham Alexander John Woodberry Barry Morcom Mitsubishi Lancer RS-E Evo VII 230 18 Mitsubishi Sirius engine 2.0L Turbo I4 DNF 1 6 AD Holdings Peter Floyd Chris Maries Rod Wilson Gary MacDonald Porsche 996 GT3-RS 195 6 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 DNF 3 22 DCH Motorsport Dennis Chapman Debbie Chapman Lindsay O'Donnell Scott O'Donnell BMW 318i 126 24 BMW S14 2.0L I4 DNF 1 888 Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia John Bowe Brad Jones Paul Morris John Teulan Ferrari 360 N-GT 96 1 Ferrari 3.6L V8 DNF 1 52 Seikel Motorsport Tony Burgess Andrew Bagnall John Lloyd Jürgen Alzen Porsche 996 GT3-RS 58 5 Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 DNS 1 999 Prancing Horse Racing Scuderia Jim Richards Matt Weiland Maher Algadrie Peter Fitzgerald Porsche 996 GT3-RS 4* Porsche 3.6L Flat-6 * #999 PHR Scuderia Porsche 996 GT3-RS had set 4th fastest qualifying time. However, due to a practice crash the car was withdrawn and replaced by the teams 996 GT3 Cup car. As the RS was withdrawn the original time was not counted for grid position.

References

Statistics Pole Position - #888 Brad Jones - 2:15.0742 Fastest Lap - #427 Garth Tander - 2:14.3267 (lap 359) Average Speed - 138 km/h

External links 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour images Retrieved from www.pbase.com on 1 December 2008