PODCAST: Payne and Tander claim Bathurst 1000

Twenty-three-year-old Kiwi Matt Payne and all-time legend Garth Tander have triumphed in an incident-packed wet Bathurst 1000.

The race was hit by rain at around the one-third mark and had seven Safety Car periods, but after a crazy race the battle for the Peter Brock Trophy came down to a stunning final run to the chequered flag.

In the latest episode of Jax Tyres & Auto Race for the Championship podcast, all of the action from the crazy race is debated in full by journalists Allan Edwards and Mark Fogarty in a sometimes heated discussion hosted by Big Hair Nev.

Erebus’ Cooper Murray led late from PremiAir’s James Golding but the pair clashed with five laps to go at Griffins Bend allowing Payne into the lead.

Golding worked his way back to the front and crossed the finish line first but a five second penalty slapped on him for his part in the Murray clash saw him relegated to third.

Team 18’s David Reynolds was the fastest car on the circuit in the dying laps but couldn’t find a way past Payne.

The Kiwi – who is the 67th driver to have won the Bathurst 1000 – and Tander, started from 18th, with Grove Racing claiming its first Bathurst win, and Ford its first since 2019. David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth claimed a remarkable runner-up finish, just 0.9seconds behind, with Golding and David Russell reclassified third.

“It’s absolutely insane, that last stint in the wet when I got back in the car it felt like forever,” said Payne in victory lane.

“We kept getting Safety Cars and it kept stalling our race, and then I saw Jimmy (Golding) get into the side of Cooper (Murray) and I kind of predicted that was going to happen, and just managed to get through.

“I felt like I ran out of tyres a bit at the end, but a win’s a win, we’ll take it. It’s just so, so good for the guys, they’ve worked so hard, so cool.”

It was the sixth Bathurst victory for 48-year-old Tander, who drew level with Mark Skaife and Larry Perkins. Only Peter Brock, Jim Richards and Craig Lowndes have more Bathurst wins.

“It sounds a bit surreal,” Tander said about claiming his sixth Bathurst 1000 title.

“There’s just something about tall Kiwis at Bathurst,” Tander said praising Payne.

“The pressure in those last 40 or 50 laps was intense and you just knew something was going to happen, and the way that he kept his calm… even the way he managed that last lap when Golding was mucking around with his five-second penalty, that was a seriously impressive drive!”

It was a race of dramas for the favourites, with Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood, Cam Waters and Mark Winterbottom, Broc Feeney and Jamie Whincup, Will Brown and Scott Pye, Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard and Ryan Wood and Jayden Ojeda all suffering disasters.

Brown and Feeney both crashed, as did Winterbottom, while Mostert and Wood suffered engine failures, and Kostecki was cruelled by a multitude of mechanical dramas and incidents throughout the day.

Erebus Motorsport and PremiAir both threatened to pull off stunning upsets, but the Golding and Murray clash opened the door for Grove Racing to deliver the brilliant win.

Wood was left in tears after a late engine issue wiped the WAU Ford out of contention within the final 30 laps.

Undoubtedly, one of the moments of the year was when Mostert was handed a beer by a punter when he parked his Mustang on Conrod Straight.

Despite Ford’s victory, the lead-up of the race was dominated by parity arguments with meetings taking place up and down pitlane all weekend as the Blue Oval teams claim they are at a disadvantage in straight-line speed at Mount Panorama.

Ironically, if current rumours are to be believed, this year’s Bathurst could have been Tander’s last race as a driver.

The Western Australian is tipped by some to become the main commentator for Supercars Television in 2026, which would likely see him retire from driving.

Fellow veteran David Reynolds will be on the grid in 2026 after Team 18 confirmed in the lead-up to the Great Race that it was taking up its option on his contract for next year.

2011 Bathurst winner Nick Percat announced his retirement before the 1000. Percat, who it is believed had two years to go on his contract, was expected to be shown the door early at Matt Stone Racing due to a sponsorship short fall.

Percat will now focus on securing a front-running endurance drive in 2026 and said he is keen to explore GT opportunities overseas.

The Toyota Supra made its public debut in the hands of Neil Crompton and Warren Luff during demonstration laps at Bathurst, but the big question in the pitlane was just how many Toyotas there will be on the grid in 2026.

While it was expected to be six, two for homologation team WAU and four in the garages of BJR, there are now question marks over just how many charters BJR will be running, with the charter owned by trucking magnate Pete Smith rumoured to be on the move.

While team owner Brad Jones said that was news to him, the pitlane scuttlebutt first had the charter being serviced by Tickford and then by Triple Eight – the former was shot down in flames by team principal Simon Brookhouse during the team representatives press conference.