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Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport
Andrew van Leeuwen

Bathurst 12 Hour adds full-course yellow

The round-the-clock GT enduro will feature a standard FCY procedure, with drivers forced to slow to 80 km/h within five seconds at the discretion of race control.

The pit lane will remain open during FCYs and there will be a five-second countdown before cars can resume at racing speed.

The addition of a FCY comes after a delegation from Supercars, which owns and runs the event, travelled to the Spa 24 earlier this year to assess such changes.

This will be the first time a FCY has been used at an all-Aussie event, the only other time it is used in the country being for Formula 1 at Albert Park.

Supercars did recently attempt to trial a speed limiter that could be used for a virtual safety car or FCY in that series, however there were issues and the test was swiftly abandoned.

“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, 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," said even director Shane Rudzis.

“The ability to neutralise the field very quickly is important for safety especially at a circuit such as Mount Panorama.

“It’s exciting to announce race paperwork open for the 2024 event. We have already received multiple entries for the event, this is the earliest we have had official entries which indicates very positive signs for a full grid come February next year!”

Race director James Taylor added: “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.

“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.”

As well as the FCY and the return of the wave-by, which allows cars off the lead lap to pass the safety car after the third hour of the race, there is a tweak to the pit rules for 2024.

The minimum total pit lane time for stops that include refuelling or drivers changes will be 85 seconds, while there will be no minimum time for tyres-only stops.

The five-at-a-time Shootout for the fastest 10 cars in qualifying will also return.

The 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour will take place on February 16-18.

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