{"id":919175,"date":"2026-10-07T08:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919175\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T08:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:12:10","slug":"bathurst-1000-news-2026-mandatory-drivers-test-before-racing-mount-panorama-motorsport-australia-supercars-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919175\/","title":{"rendered":"Bathurst 1000 news 2026: Mandatory drivers test before racing, Mount Panorama, Motorsport Australia, Supercars drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drivers gearing up for this year\u2019s Bathurst 1000<\/a> faced a unique hurdle before even hitting the tarmac. <\/p>\n

They had to complete a mandatory 31-question regulation test that proved so bizarre, multiple drivers reportedly turned to ChatGPT to get them through. <\/p>\n

\"Ralf<\/p>\n

Ralf Aron suffered a broken back in this horror crash during the Bathurst 12hr.\u00a0FOX Sports<\/p>\n

Motorsport Australia mandated the driver theory refresher for every driver competing at Mount Panorama, requiring a flawless 100 per cent score before anyone was cleared to race.<\/p>\n

\u201cSafety is paramount,\u201d the governing body said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mount Panorama track presents its own particular challenges, one being only three current opportunities to race on the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this in mind, Motorsport Australia developed a drivers regulation refresher test for all drivers competing at Mount Panorama events.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll drivers must complete and achieve a 100 per cent pass prior to starting the events.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intention is to bring to front of mind various rules including flag states and safety car regulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the test was standard across the Bathurst 12 Hour, Bathurst 6 Hour and the Bathurst 1000 event, it proved to be a significant roadblock in the paddock. <\/p>\n

One driver in this weekend\u2019s field reportedly failed the exam three times, as others turned to artificial intelligence to secure their perfect scores.<\/p>\n

The governing body\u2019s heightened focus on safety follows a horror year on Mount Panorama. <\/p>\n

Recent events have been marred by severe accidents, which includes a terrifying crash at the Bathurst 12 Hour that left driver Ralf Aron with a broken back<\/a> and a highly controversial incident involving Grant Denyer at the 6 Hour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s victor, Garth Tander<\/a>, won\u2019t be lining up in 2026 for the \u201ccrazy, chaotic\u201d race. <\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Garth Tander (right) poses with the team after winning the 2025 Bathurst 1000.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe when the cars roll out for practice later in the week, I might start getting just a little bit anxious,\u201d he said of his emotions on the sidelines. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had the chance to sit back and watch all of last year\u2019s race<\/a>, but I\u2019ve watched like a cut-down edited version of the race with all the highlights in it. And that went for about four hours, just all the highlights. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo that sort of tells you that was a pretty chaotic one, and it was. Bathurst always has this incredible ability to create\u2026just crazy, chaotic classics.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Bathurst 1000 weekend will begin with practice and media sessions on October 8, with The Great Race to begin on October 11 at 11:30am AEST. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drivers gearing up for this year\u2019s Bathurst 1000 faced a unique hurdle before even hitting the tarmac. They…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-919175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}