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THREE YEAR DEAL SETS SIX HOUR AS NEW BATHURST EASTER STAPLE
THE HI-TEC OILS Bathurst 6 Hour will become a staple of the Easter long weekend at Mount Panorama, with a three-year commitment from Hi-Tec Oils to return as the naming-rights sponsor announced today.The 2017 Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour Event will be held on April 14-16, with the second running of the six-hour production car enduro to start at the new time of 11:30am on Easter Sunday next year. Support categories will be announced later this year.50 cars across eight classes started the inaugural race, won by Nathan Morcom and Chaz Mostert driving a BMW 335i.Today’s announcement ensures that the Bathurst 6 Hour will become the newest long-term addition to the existing pair of iconic endurance races already held at Mount Panorama.Hi-Tec Oils Managing Director, George Gambino, said he was proud to extend the involvement of a locally-based business in the race.”It was amazing for Hi-Tec Oils, an Australian brand still based in the state of New South Wales, to be involved in the inaugural Bathurst 6 Hour in our 25th anniversary year. It was great to have our name on the bridge and everyone in the company was thrilled to be associated with this event.”From the minute we drove into the place the feeling was been fantastic and we had a full field and great competition throughout the race.”We are very excited to commit to this long-term and work with James O’Brien, the Bathurst Regional Council and the competitors to build this into one of the must-win races on the Australian calendar.”Event Director James O’Brien said he was looking forward to the Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour establishing itself as a staple of the motorsport calendar following a successful debut this year. “The time was right to reintroduce an endurance race for production cars at Mount Panorama and we were very pleased with the reception we received this year,” he said.”We now have a three-year platform on which to build this race thanks to the support of George and his team at Hi-Tec Oils and the Bathurst Regional Council. There are a lot of manufacturers who produce vehicles that can compete in this race and hopefully this can be a catalyst to boost production car racing nationally.”Easter and racing at Mount Panorama are synonymous. The Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour can now take its place alongside the Bathurst 1000 and Bathurst 12 Hour.”A three-day overall event attendance of 16,151 enjoyed the three-days of on-track action this year. 300 competitors across six categories competed across the weekend.A live stream of Sunday’s action attracted more than 45,000 views, while the website attracted traffic from more than 70 countries. Highlights of a competitive race, that included 12 changes of the lead, six safety car periods and a battle for the final spots on the podium that went down to the final 10 minutes, will be aired on SBS Speedweek on Sunday, April 10.The Hi-Tec Oils Bathurst 6 Hour is proudly supported by the NSW Government as part of its Regional Flagship Events Program.