Previews

All Roads Lead to the Mountain: Huge Bathurst Week Preview

Well with two rounds left in the Logitech V8PRO Invitational, and the championship finale in the GTPRO and that means it's time to talk about our biggest week of the year.

There’s a tonne to do here, not just the big stuff Friday and Sunday!

First cab off the rank is the Co-Driver Clash. After debuting on the calendar last year and being won by Ryan Wood (yes that Ryan Wood), it created a whole bunch of drama that led to Brodie Kostecki electing not to race the Bathurst 1000 and potentially being the major decision that lost Jarrad Filsell the championship.

There’s a ticket to next year's main championship and a tonne of Co-Drivers would love the opportunity. Rehan Liyanage was brilliantly quick but just short last year. Emily Jones moved to the main game through the long way round, but nearly earned a golden ticket. Think about Richie Stanaway, should have been in the series but calendar clashes with Supercars left him unable to race two rounds of the qualifying series, he could be in the main game next year with a strong clash.

Ryan Wood took victory in last years Co-driver Clash

You get the point, there’s some glory and an opportunity on the line. 32 Laps of action Wednesday night give us the ability to rate the Co-Drivers directly. Tune in from 7.45pm AEDT for this little bit of spice to kick off our week!

Thursday brings the Paddock Podcast with a mix of drivers from both the GTPro and V8 Pro to chat about. Hear Bathurst insights, chats about what it feels like to win a Toyota 86 Race from Sandown over the weekend and some peeling back the layers on our Pro Drivers.

For me the biggest attraction of Thursday night has to be the entries into the Hall of Fame! 3 very deserving individuals will get the opportunity for us as a community to say thank you for improving the Australian Sim Racing landscape over a number of years.

Friday is time to decide our first champion of the 2025 season, and its GTPro back from the usual 7.45pm AEDT timeslot. #56 Eclipse Sim Racing holds the lead, but need to survive the finale whilst the remainder of the top 4 are separated by just 10 points. This is going to be a tight battle that will go down to the wire and should see the Acura NSX return to the potency it showed at the start of the year.

The Eclipse Esports #56 is leading the GTPRO Series heading to Bathurst

3 hours of GT3 racing action from Bathurst complete with strategy. Could rain or a Safety Car play havoc with the final round of the championship?

Saturday is where the nerves will start to build. Bathurst 1000 Qualifying will see the field on track for 30 minutes of qualifying action. Currently there is a low to medium chance of rain forecasted, but whether we see this flow across to the qualifying server remains to be seen. If it is wet, being on track at the right time will be critical as expected conditions appear to be roaming showers.

Following on we have the return of Porsche Cup Racing action in partnership with the iRacing World Challenge Series. We’ll get 2 races of Porsche Cup as they run one of the final races in the 992.1 Spec cars before moving to 992.2 specifications at the end of the season.

As a big Porsche fan, I’ll be enjoying the return of what was an exciting series last year.

Then to finish off Saturday, the fastest 15 drivers from qualifying get to do their shootout laps. It’s one lap, you, the stopwatch and a very quiet mountain. Could the circling rain from earlier lead to a completely shaken up grid? Only time will tell!