12 Hour Explained: The classes

The LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour field is separated into four classes this year; three in the GT3 category and one for invitational vehicles.

The GT3 structure is based on the drivers in the cars: Each driver is required to be categorised by the FIA as either Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze.

Essentially if you're Platinum or Gold you're considered a Professional driver, while Silvers and Bronzes (with some exceptions) are considered 'Amateur' or Semi-Professional.

As such, the class structure works out as follows:

PRO

Three drivers: no categorisation

PRO-AM

Three drivers: Two of either Platinum, Gold or Silver, plus one Bronze; Four drivers: Two of Platinum, Gold or Silver, plus Two Bronze

SILVER

Three drivers: All Silver; Four drivers: Two Silver, Two Bronze

INVITATIONAL

The Invitational class is made up of cars that either don't fit into an existing category or have originally been entered in a class that did not have the numbers to field their own.

That's why the GT4 Mercedes are in that category.

The GT2 KTM X-Bow, MARC Cars Australia entries and the wild SIN R1 are pure invitational entries.

Each Invitational car must have at least one Bronze-ranked driver within their squad.

Invitational class cars are not allowed to lap beneath a 2:06s benchmark lap time at any point across the weekend.

Dubbed by some the 'Nations Cup Monaro' rule, it's designed to stop one-off specials from knocking off the GT3 machinery that contests for the outright win.

Serious penalties are in place for cars that lap beneath the lap time.