Payne and Tander pull off Bathurst win for the ages
Matt Payne and Garth Tander have come from the clouds to win a wet and wild 2025 Bathurst 1000.
Payne drove to his first Great Race glory and guided Tander to his sixth and first for Ford from 18th on the grid, the third lowest victorious starting position ever.
After 6h52m14s and 161 laps, the Grove Racing combination took a win for the ages by 0.9588s over late chargers David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth.
James Golding took the chequered flag first, but in shades of 2016, was denied victory due to a penalty for a race-defining moment.
It occurred due to a move on the lead that went wrong against Cooper Murray at Griffin’s Bend five laps from home, seeing he and David Russell had to settle for third.
The finished six-tenths clear of impressive rookies Murray and Jobe Stewart, who led the majority of the run home
In docile conditions where the track was wet and covered in clouds, the race concluded in a final stint that will never be forgotten.
During the sixth Safety Car one of the top contenders was robbed of a shot at victory through a rotten piece of luck.
Wood and Ojeda had driven the wheels off the #2 Mustang to second place, but like the sister WAU entry, the engine gave up.
The Kiwi crying “the engine is gone” over the radio had no choice, but to pull to the pits due to a crank sensor.
Critically WAU got him classified in 19th which kept his Finals alive.
When Murray was a man on a mission when racing resumed, swarming all over Golding.
After harassing the leader on the outside of Hell Corner, Murray took aim at Griffin’s Bend with great success.
He crept clear down the inside and put the foot down in an attempt to break the race open.
However, Golding was equally committed, hanging with him and not dropping any more than half a second back.
But as soon as Lap 143, the seventh Safety Car period was required after the sister PremiAir entry’s race came to a crashing end.
Stanaway saw an impressive fighting top-five disappear through a heavy crash at The Cutting.
It was sadly enough to bring young race engineer Andrew Gilliam to tears.
With 15 laps left, Murray led the field away and things went perfectly for him.
For the second restart in three, Golding ran wide at Hell Corner and it proved extremely costly.
After some bumping with Payne, Golding went from fighting for the lead to clinging onto the podium.
Heimgartner appeared to have demoted the PremiAir driver off the podium, but the #31 driver fought back with a big dive at Griffin’s and held on.
All the arm wrestling allowed Murray and Payne to pull 3s clear and turn it into a two-horse race.
Murray was setting a hot pace as the pioneer to each river, while Payne was breathing down his neck.
Payne took his first shot at Forest’s Elbow on Lap 149, and it almost worked.
The Kiwi went fully alongside Murray, but the Erebus driver gritted his teeth and hung on around the outside to defend the lead like his life depended on it.
Payne then held station and lined up another assault three laps later.
After seeing Murray have a slide on approach to the same left-hander, Payne lunged down the inside.
But once again Murray held firm the long way around, which led to them conducting a drag race for the ages on Lap 153.
The Chevrolet and Ford rivals were door handle to door handle through the Chase on the ragged edge.
Coming out of the ultra-fast right-hander, Payne had a huge slide and somehow caught it to avoid a repeat of Mark Winterbottom’s 2007 surf.
Unfortunately for Ford fans, the Grove Racing driver could not stop himself from skating off and slipping from first to third.
Now Murray had to survive an assault from Golding when the Erebus driver had a moment on the 154th tour of Hell Corner.
Golding had a run and thought about a risky move at The Cutting, but it was denied.
This latest contest brought Payne back into play with seven-tenths covering the trio.
The tension proved too much on Lap 156, which proved to be the decisive moment.
Golding had a look at Griffin’s Bend, but made contact as Murray turned in.
This sent the Erebus rookie sliding up out of the lead, and just when his race appeared over he somehow kept it from the barriers to keep his podium dream alive.
However, the two Camaros coming together parted the seas for Payne, who shot into the lead.
To rub salt into the wounds for PremiAir, Golding was hit with a 5s penalty that ended both his victory and podium hopes.
It clash also brought Reynolds into play, jumping up to third on the road as the fastest car on track.
If the race did not need further drama, the top of Mount Panorama was covered in clouds for the final three laps.
Two laps to go, Golding had a look at the Chase, but had to fight for track position across the next four corners as the leading two cars took the white flag side by side.
Even though Golding had a 5s penalty, Payne carried on battling him to The Cutting, which brought Reynolds into play.
In fact, the Team 18 driver came so close he and Payne even made contact at The Cutting.
Golding ended up staying in the lead to take the chequered flag first, but just like 2016, did not get to savour the victory.
This meant Payne was victorious over Reynolds as Golding dropped to third, clinging onto a podium by six tenths.
Having led with five laps to go, Murray fell six tenths short of a podium, while Cameron Hill scored a surprise top five, whcih was not enough for Finals by a heart-breaking three points.
Broc Feeney produced a remarkable comeback to sixth ahead of Andrew Heimgartner, Kai Allen, while rookies Aaron Cameron and Zach Bates rounded out the top 10.
It was a wild end to one of the craziest Great Races ever that did not stop producing drama.
Image: Mark Horsburgh
2025 Bathurst 1000 results
Pos Drivers Team Lap Time
1 Matt Payne/Garth Tander Grove Racing 161 6:52:14.9378 +17
2 David Reynolds/Lee Holdsworth Team 18 161 +0.9588 +13
3 James Golding/David Russell PremiAir 161 +4.0396 +10
4 Cooper Murray/Jobe Stewart Erebus 161 +4.6969 +2
5 Cameron Hill/Cameron McLeod MSR 161 +7.7162 +3
6 Broc Feeney/Jamie Whincup Triple Eight 161 +11.2161 -1
7 Andre Heimgartner/Declan Fraser BJR 161 +14.0828 +12
8 Kai Allen/Dale Wood Grove Racing 161 +22.0693 +13
9 Aaron Cameron/Zak Best BRT 161 +23.3841 +11
10 Zach Bates/Craig Lowndes Triple Eight 161 +25.8216 +6
11 Thomas Randle/James Moffat Tickford 161 +29.8271 -4
12 Cameron Waters/Mark Winterbottom Tickford 161 +42.0327 -10
13 Lochie Dalton/Rylan Gray Tickford 161 +46.1801 +14
14 Jack Le Brocq/Jarrod Hughes Erebus 161 +50.5476 +3
15 Cameron Crick/Aaron Seton MSR 161 +57.1472 +11
16 Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys BJR 159 +2 laps -5
17 Will Brown/Scott Pye Triple Eight 159 +2 Laps -5
18 Brodie Kostecki/Todd Hazelwood DJR 159 +2 Laps -17
19 Ryan Wood/Jayden Ojeda WAU 149 +12 Laps -15
20 Anton De Pasquale/Harri Jones Team 18 141 +20 Laps -11
21 Bryce Fullwood/Brad Vaughan BJR 140 +21 Laps +4
NC Richie Stanaway/Nash Morris PremiAir 143 +18 Laps +1
NC James Courtney/Jack Perkins BRT 127 +34 Laps –
NC Chaz Mostert/Fabian Coulthard WAU 57 +104 Laps -21
NC Will Davison/Tony D’Alberto DJR 53 +108 Laps -21
NC Nick Percat/Tim Slade MSR 50 +111 Laps -17
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