IT'S the event where Craig Lowndes will make Supercars history and unlike last year, Bathurst 1000 fans won't have to wait until after midday for the endurance epic to begin.
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It has been revealed that the start time for this year's Bathurst 1000, where Lowndes will become the first driver to record 300 ATCC/Supercars round starts, has been locked in for 11.15am, Sunday, October 9.
After being run as part of a six-day motor sport event featuring 10 categories last year when Supercars and the Australian Racing Group joined forces, this year the Bathurst 100 returns to its traditional format and October timeslot.
Last year's 161-lap race, held on Sunday December 5, was the latest ever Great Race start at 12.15pm.
The 11.15am start time is the same as the 2016, 2017 and 2018 races.
Supercars will be on track on all four days of the October 6-9 event, as teams and drivers do everything they can to prepare for Sunday's race.
Lowndes will line up for his 29th consecutive Great Race start, racing alongside young gun Declan Fraser in the #888 Triple Eight wildcard Commodore.
"I am so excited about it," Lowndes told Supercars.com.
"I think that over my career it has been nice to come up with some great milestones, like being the first in the 200 and 600 clubs, and now have the 300 clubs, it's a nice number to have.
"It's nice to have it at a track that I really hold highly valuable to me, in the sense that I've always wanted to win Bathurst, it's a track that I grew up watching.
"It's nice, nice to roll out in the 300 club there."
As well as there being plenty of interest around Lowndes when he creates history, plenty of attention will be on defending Bathurst 1000 champions Chaz Mostert and Lee Holdsworth who will be lining up in separate teams this year.
Mostert will be trying to defend his crown in the famous Walkinshaw Commodore that won the 2021 race.
Holdsworth will be lining up in the Penrite Ford Mustang for his final Bathurst event as a Championship driver.
Before the Great Race is given the green light on Sunday morning, there will be the excitement of qualifying on Friday.
The fastest 10 runners will earn passage into Saturday's top 10 shootout at 5.05pm, a fan-favourite for the bumper crowd which is expected at Mount Panorama this year.
Prior to that there will be six 60-minute practice sessions, three of which will be for co-drivers only, which includes the former Bathurst victor Greg Murphy who has now been confirmed as the co-driver with fellow kiwi Richie Stanaway.
