ITS a mouth-watering array of machinery with 11 brands and a host of different models represented – with some of the most impressive machinery around.

Here’s a look at the brands involved in the 2018 race – it’s quite a mix!

Audi

Two-time 12-hour winners Audi will field perhaps their best attack ever on Bathurst, boosted by the addition of the two Audi Sport Team WRT entries which will both definitely contend. Powered by the mid-mounted V10 and famed for it’s aero performance across the top of the Mountain, the R8 is one of the most successful GT3 cars ever constructed.

22	PRO	Audi Sport Customer Racing	Audi	R8 LMS	Garth Tander	Kelvin Van der Linde	Fredrick Vervisch
37	PRO	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	R8 LMS	Robin Frijns	Stuart Leonard	Dries Vanthoor
74	PRO	Audi Sport Customer Racing	Audi	R8 LMS	Christopher Mies	Christopher Haase	Markus Winklehock
9	PRO-AM	Audi Sport Customer Racing	Audi	R8 LMS	Marc Cini	Lee Holdsworth	Dean Fiore
39	PRO-AM	Audi Sport Team WRT	Audi	R8 LMS	Pedro Lamy	Paul Dalla Lana	Mathias Lauda	Will Davison
82	PRO-AM	Internatioal Motorsport	Audi	R8 LMS	Andrew Bagnall	Matthew Halliday	Johnny Reid
3	AM	Audi Sport Customer Racing	Audi	R8 LMS	Ash Samadi	Daniel Gaunt	Dylan O’Keefe
69	AM	Audi Sport Customer Racing	Audi	R8 LMS	James Koundoris	Theo Koundouris	Ash Walsh	Duvashen Padayachee

Bentley

More renowned for their supreme luxury range of high-end motor vehicles, Bentley’s Continental GT3 is now an icon of the class. With essentially 1000kg removed from the road car weight and a wide, stable platform the car is supremely effective at Bathurst. And it’s thumping turbocharged V8 sounds like no other race car the Mountain has seen. Bentley has finished fourth, third and third in the last three 12-hour races in Bathurst. What will 2018 bring?

17	PRO	Bentley Team M-Sport	Bentley	Continental GT3	Steven Kane	Guy Smith	Jules Gounon
18	PRO	Bentley Team M-Sport	Bentley	Continental GT3	Andy Soucek	Maxime Soulet	Vincent Abril

BMW

2018 marks BMWs best shot at a Bathurst victory since they closed the Production Car era with a victory in 2010. While the M6GT3 has now had a full year’s worth of development and testing in local hands, the M4 GT4 is a highly anticipated arrival to the ‘baby’ GT category. Six entries in two classes give them a very good chance in each.

43	PRO	BMW Team Schnitzer	BMW	M6 GT3	Augusto Farfus	Chaz Mostert	Marco Wittmann
100	PRO	BMW Team SRM	BMW	M6 GT3	Steven Richards	Timo Glock	Phillip Eng
13	C	RHC-Lawrence/Strom (MarcGT)	BMW	M4 GT4	Daren Eric Jorgensen	Cameron Lawrence	Brett Strom	Kuno Wittmer
15	C	Baigent Motorsport	BMW	M4 GT4	Kent Baigent	Neil Allport	Matt Spratt	Ash Blewett
30	C	Boat Works Racing	BMW	M4	Aaron Seton	Matt Brabham	Anthony Longhurst
44	C	BMW Team SRM	BMW	M4 GT4	Dean Grant	Xavier West	Cameron Hill

Daytona / Dodge

The Melbourne-based privateer Daytona Sportscar team returns with two cars this year – their home grown Daytona Coupe and their converted GT3 Dodge Viper. Both have enormous engines – the Coupe’ a V8 and the Viper 10 cylinders – and they are both the fastest cars down Conrod and up Mountain Straight.. the Coupe’ clocked at over 307km/hr two years ago. Aussie privateer ingenuity at its finest.

65	I	Daytona Sportscars	Daytona	Coupe	Jamie augustine	Dylan thomas	Rhys Howell
66	I	Daytona Sportscars	Dodge	Viper	Ben Schoots	Adam Macrow	Michael Caine

Ginetta

The renowned British racing car constructor was in GT4 competition basically before GT4 was really ‘a thing’ and their cars are highly effective. The cars were well suited to the Mountain last year and should compete with the factory BMWs and KTMs again in 2018.

77	C	Ginetta Australia	Ginetta	G55	TBA	Coleby Cowham	Lindsay kearns
88	C	Ginetta Australia	Ginetta	G55	TBA	Jaie Robson	TBA
111	C	Ginetta Australia	Ginetta	G50	TBA	TBA	TBA

KTM

Built by two-wheel constructor KTM, the X-Bow is one of the most insane cars around. Four cylinder turbo power is bolted into a lightweight all-carbon chassis and.. that’s about it. Their fighter-pilot style cockpit and raw carbon appearance make these things totally unique. Fielded one car last year and it was quick, so an expanded two-car attack this year is expected to deliver more results for the now four-wheeled brand.

48	C	M Motorsport P/L	KTM	X-Bow GT4	Justin McMillan	David Crampton	Timothy Macrow	Caitlin Wood
49	C	KTM / M Motorsport	KTM	X-Bow GT4	Glen Wood	Tent Harrison	Cody Hill

Lamborghini

Lambo will be represented by two models. The Gallardo RE-X was developed by German company Reiter Engineering and is now in essentially its last evolution cycle before the end of its run. Sharing much of the driveline and platform with the Audi R8, it’s different aero properties give it different strengths and weaknesses. The Hurracan GT3 was developed in-house by the Italian brand and is the future for their racing in GT3.

29	PRO-AM	Trofeo Motorsport	Lamborghini	Hurracan	Jim Manolios	Ryan Millier	Ivan Capelli	Dean Canto
32	PRO-AM	Lago Racing	Lamborghini	Gallardo R-EX	Roger Lago	David Russell	Steven Owen
777	PRO-AM	Buik Motorworks	Lamborghini	Gallardo GT3 REX	Yasser Shahin	Luke Youlden	Tomas Enge
6	AM	Safe-T-Stop	Lamborghini	Gallardo	Richard Gartner	Hadrian Morall	David Wall	John Bowe

MARC

Aussie designed, sourced and built, the MARC Cars entries have become a popular addition to endurance races everywhere. Based on a custom chassis with bolt-on panels from a Mazda 3 or Ford Focus, the cars are powered by a Ford Coyote V8 and will lap Bathurst all day without much stress – as they are designed to do. 2018 will witness the global debut of the MARC II racer, which aims to evolve the concept to the next level but with more performance and a sharp new suit as well.

33	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC	Mazda V8	TBA	TBA	TBA
93	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC	Mazda V8	Zane Goddard	Rob Thomson	Drew Ridge
94	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC	Mazda V8	Nick Rowe	Tyler Everingham	James Kaye
95	I	Eastgate Engineering	MARC	Focus V8	Geoff Taunton	Jason Busk	Bryce Fullwood
96	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC	Focus V8	John Goodacre	Peter Major	Jordan Love
54	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC II	V8	Tony Alford	Kyle Alford	Chad Parish
67	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC II	V8	Jake Camilleri	Morgan Haber	Aaron Cameron
91	I	MARC Cars Australia	MARC II	V8	Keith Kassulke	Rod Salmon	Will Brown

McLaren

While the original 12C GT3 was fast but fragile, the 650S GT3 has become one of the best GT3 cars around since its inception. Mid-mounted turbo V8 power, plenty of aero and incredible looks make this car one of the most popular. Strong in almost all areas of a lap, the 650S  GT3 remains the fastest ever car officially around Mount Panorama to this day..

58	PRO	YNA Autosport	Mclaren	650S GT3	Shane Van Gisbergen	Craig Lowndes	Côme Ledogar
11	PRO-AM	Objective Racing	Mclaren	650S	Tony  Walls	Warren Luff	Timothy Slade	Jaxon Evans
47	PRO-AM	YNA Autosport	Mclaren	650S GT3	Scott McLaughlin	Fraser Ross	Andrew Watson	Alexander West

Mercedes-AMG

If anything follows the Bathurst recipe of success it’s the AMG GT3: Put a massive engine up the front, a big wing at the back and send it. The GT took everything good about its predecessor, the SLS – including the thumping 6.2-litre V8 – and added it to a svelte new body with better aero. It has since become the preeminent GT3 car of the last three years and has swept all before it in Europe. After coming so close last year, AMG has doubled down in 2018 with arguably its best ever all-round attack.

75	PRO	Mercedes-AMG Team SunEnergy1 Racing	Mercedes	AMG GT3	Kenny Habul	Tristan Vautier	Jamie Whincup	Raffaele Marciello
8	PRO-AM	Scott Taylor Motorsport	Mercedes	AMG GT3	Max Twigg	Craig Baird	Antonio D’alberto
19	PRO-AM	Nineteen Corp P/L	Mercedes	GT	David Reynolds	John Martin	Liam Talbot	Mark Griffith
55	PRO-AM	Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing	Mercedes	AMG GT GT3	Nick Leventis	Lewis Williamson	Cameron Waters	David Fumaneli
56	PRO	Mercedes-AMG Team Strakka Racing	Mercedes	AMG GT GT3	Maximillian Buhk	Maximillian Goetz	Alvaro Parente

Porsche

Bathurst is just about all that remains on Porsche’s ‘to-do’ list in World Motorsport, outside perhaps of Formula 1. The World Endurance Champions have never won Bathurst but have tasted success in almost every other GT ‘major’ around the world. Porsche are the most numerical brand this year and are the only one represented in three classes. The Cayman GT4 will aim to defend it’s class victory, while Class B is all about the Cup Cars that usually compete in one-make competition. Meanwhile, the GT3R finished second and fourth on its Bathurst debut last year and this year returns with four entries that each could be considered contenders. The Weissach wonders are playing for keeps this year..

911	PRO	Manthey-Racing	Porsche	911	Romain Dumas	Frederic Makowiecki	Dirk Werner
991	PRO	Craft Bamboo Racing	Porsche	911 GT3 R	Earl Bamber	Kevin Estre	Laurens Vanthoor
12	PRO-AM	Competition Motorsports	Porsche	991 GT3R	David Calvert-Jones	Patrick Long	Matt Campbell	Alex Davison
540	PRO-AM	Black Swan Racing	Porsche	911 GT3 R	Tim Pappas	Jeroen Bleekemolen	Luca Stolz	Marc Lieb
4	B	Grove Motorsport Pty Ltd	Porsche	GT3 Cup	Stephen Grove	Brenton Grove	Benjamin Barker
21	B	JFC – Carter Grange	Porsche	911	Daniel Stutterd	Sam Fillmore	TBA
23	B	Team Carrera Cup Asia	Porsche	991	Paul Tresidder	Chris Van der Drift	Andrew Tang	Chen Yi-Fan
42	B	On Track Motorsport	Porsche	997 GT3 Cup	Garry Mennell	Kean Booker	Aaron Zerefos	Mark Caine
85	B	Wall Racing	Porsche	911GT3-Cup	Charles Putman	Charles Espenlaub	Joe Foster
46	C	Prosport Performance GABH	Porsche	Cayman PRO4	Jorg Viebahn	Max Braams	Marco Schelp