1 month ago
29
The race under the sun for a surfboard pushed Bathurst back to the third step on the podium for the most-attended V8 Supercars races in 2024.
The Bathurst 1000 was the third-most attended stand-alone V8 Supercars race in 2024, as the Gold Coast event overtook the Mount Panorama classic as the second-most popular event.
The season finale of the Ford Mustang versus Chevrolet Camaro battle in Adelaide – where Red Bull driver Will Brown saw off team-mate Broc Feeney to take his maiden V8 Supercars championship – recorded the highest attendance of all 12 rounds for the third year running.
With an official 259,400 trackside at Adelaide – almost matching its record of 260,700 in 2023 – it shaded next-best Surfers Paradise which with a crowd of 197,949 across the weekend, was 4500 ahead of Bathurst.
The annual pilgrimage to Mount Panorama, where what's become known as The Great Race has been held since 1963, was made by 193,219 fans this year, a reduction of just over five per cent compared to 2023 (204,069).
The biggest crowd to gather at Bathurst was for the 2012 race, where 207,205 spectators saw Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell win the 1000km race in a Holden Commodore.
The Townsville, Queensland round was the next-best in 2024 with a figure of 126,618, an attendance record for the street-circuit venue which has been on the Supercars calendar since 2009.
Supercars also made the journey across the Tasman in 2024, having not done so in 2023 despite six titles in the past decade being won by New Zealand drivers Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin.
The Taupo event south of Auckland on the North Island – which recorded a win from Brad Jones Racing’s Andre Heimgartner, who hails from Auckland – clocked up 67,411 attendees.
The 2025 Supercars calendar sees two more circuits added – but one round dropped off – for a total of 13 events, with Queensland Raceway in Ipswich hosting a round for the first time since 2019.
The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia will host its first Supercars endurance race, a 500km contest on the 4.95km ‘International Circuit’ layout in September, having hosted sprint events between 2018 and 2023.
The addition of The Bend Motorsport Park means Bathurst will only host a single race, the 1000km classic in October.
The Bathurst 500 season-opener will be replaced by the Sydney 500 taking place at Sydney Motorsport Park on 20-23 February 2025, while the mid-year Sydney SuperNight is not listed on the calendar for 2025.
