News

24 April 2025 | Uncategorised

’26 planning begins with Bathurst 6 Hour to return

BATHURST’S biggest enduro will return in 2026 with the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour to again be held on the Easter long weekend. 

The race will celebrate it’s 10th running next April 3-5 fresh from a record-smashing 2025 edition that continued a strong recent growth trajectory for the event.

This years race was not only the most participated in Bathurst 6 Hour history, but also the most viewed with record attendance, TV ratings and digital audiences tuning in.

On SBS, a combined national broadcast reach across Saturday and Sunday of more than 792,000 was a more than 50% larger than 2024, with Sunday’s race alone comfortably in the top 25 most-viewed programs on free-to-air TV on Easter Sunday.

More than 4 million people viewed content on the event’s social media channels while digital media enjoyed more than 800,000 video views – both numbers more than 25% up on 2024.

Bathurst 6 Hour organisers will undertake a full review of the 2025 event before launching into 2026 planning, with entries to open and tickets / camping to go on sale later this year.

2025 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour Facts and Stats:

  • 73 cars either practiced or qualified, which is an event record
  • 69 cars started the race, the largest field in Bathurst Endurance Racing History
  • Event attendance of 20,471 people the largest in event history by more than 2,000 people
  • 600+ campsites sold an event record
  • The winning car started 66th, the lowest starting position to win an endurance race in Bathurst history
  • Dean Campbell becomes the first Bathurstian and his team the first based in Bathurst to win a major Bathurst enduro outright.
  • The final winning margin of 0.8287s was the closest in B6HR history. The last three events have each re-set the record for the closest B6HR winning margin.
  • The winner completed 122 laps and 757.9km – of the 9 B6HR races held so far, it’s the fifth longest.
  • The winner led 28 of the 122 laps.
  • There were 10 Safety Car periods (two fewer than 2024) and 27 laps behind the SC (one fewer than ’24).
  • The race has not been won from pole since 2021. It’s not been won from a position higher than fourth since then and two of the last four races have seen the winner start lower than 60th
  • Simon Hodges, Jayden Ojeda and George Miedecke finished second, defending their past two victories in style. Hodges and Ojeda became just the second pair of drivers in event history to score three consecutive B6HR podium finishes.
  • 50 cars finished, equal to the event record.
  • 11 different cars led the race, the most in event history. There were 21 lead changes, also a record.
  • Qualifying lap records were set in six of the eight classes.
  • Jayden Ojeda’s pole lap was the quickest ever by a Production Car at Mount Panorama.
  • Cameron Crick established a new race lap record on the final lap of the race.
  • Six of the eight classes saw first-time Bathurst winners this year.
  • BMW won four of the eight classes, taking X, A1, B1 and B2: This has never been done by a single brand before. BMW now has 18 class wins in B6HR history, the most of any brand.
  • The Howard / Gosling / Wolfe BMW that claimed B2 completed 118 laps – this is a record for the class and the only class winner that claimed a lap / distance record this year.
  • Jason Gomersall, Aaron Seton and Todd Hazelwood claimed the A2 class victory in their Ford Mustang, but also finished third outright. It’s the first time a Mustang has finished on the outright podium and the first time since 2019 that a brand other than BMW has finished in the B6HR top three outright.
  • Team Buccini Motorsport defended their B1 class win with Karly Buccini, Courtney Prince and Tabitha Ambrose – the first all-female team to win twice on the Mountain (they were also the first to do so).
  • Between Prince and Class D polesitter Alice Buckley, it’s the first time that two female drivers have qualified on pole for a Bathurst race in their respective classes.
  • Patrick Navin and Nathan Halsted’s win in Class C came from pole in class and was the first for a VW Scirocco in the race. 7 different brands have won the last eight races in Class C
  • Toyota claimed Class D for the eighth time from nine races and the last six straight. No other model has won their class a) that many times and b) that many times in a row. Ford Mustang has won A2 five in a row, as has the Mazda 3SP25 in Class E.