Matt Payne and Garth Tander gave Grove Racing and Ford a dramatic victory in a 2025 Bathurst 1000 that was hit with mixed conditions at Mount Panorama on Sunday.
A race that started under brilliant blue skies became a fight for survival when bad weather rolled in, turning the 6.213km circuit into an ice rink. After six safety car interventions, the race came down to a three-car train, sliding around in near-darkness and all in contention for the win.
With five laps to go, Cooper Murray looked like giving Erebus Motorsport a fairytale second successive win. He held a narrow lead from James Golding but at Turn 2, Golding’s PremiAir Chevrolet Camaro tapped Murray’s identical car into a half-spin, sending Murray into fourth – and elevating Payne into the lead.
Golding was penalised five seconds and even though he regained the lead on the road with a lap to go, Payne kept his cool to take the victory. Into the void created by the incident vaulted David Reynolds, the 2017 race winner coming from well outside the top 10 after his co-driver Lee Holdsworth led mid-race, only to be caught out by pit strategy when the weather rolled in.
Golding with veteran co-driver David Russell was classified third ahead of Murray, who in his second Bathurst 1000 appearance marked himself as a man to watch – as did his rookie co-driver, Jobe Stewart.
“That last [stint], in the wet, when I got in the car, it felt like forever,” said Payne, who struggled in qualifying, leaving Tander to start from 18th.
“I saw Jimmy get into the side of Cooper, I kind of predicted that was going to happen. I was running out of tyres at the end but this win, I am going to take it!”
Matthew Payne, Garth Tander, Grove Racing Ford Mustang GT
Photo by: Edge Photographics
Tander was delighted with his sixth win, and his first in a Ford.
“This guy, tall Kiwis at Bathurst!” he said. “Those last 40-50 laps, the way he managed that last lap, that was a seriously impressive drive.”
In a week in which an engine parity controversy was much talked about, six Chevrolets followed the winning Ford home.
Russell paid tribute to his co-driver Golding, who is leaving the Grove team at the end of the season.
“What a mega effort, under those treacherous conditions.
Holdsworth described the race as “an absolute blinder, congratulations to the Grove boys.”
Reynolds said his car was “on fire” and without the rain, “we might have finished one [place] higher!”
David Reynolds, Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Photo by: Bob Gloyn Photography
The race was looking like a shoot-out between Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Ryan Wood and Broc Feeney, who were separated by a dozen seconds with 40 laps to go. But on newly-changed wet tyres, the lack of temperature caught Feeney out and he planted the Triple Eight Chevrolet into the tyre wall at Forrest’s Elbow.
There was nothing but heartbreak for most of the favoured teams. Triple Eight had to settle for sixth and 17th, with Broc Feeney looking like he was in contention for a win until he found the barrier on the outside of the Forrest’s Elbow corner. By the time the car was pulled he was a lap down and he and Jamie Whincup fought a solid comeback under the circumstances.
Will Brown likewise looked like challenging the leaders after charging from outside the top 10, but multiple off-road moments dropped him down the order.
Both of the Walkinshaw Andretti United Fords struck problems. Chaz Mostert had to abandon his car with an engine problem before mid-race, and the Ryan Wood/Jayden Ojeda Mustang chugged into the pit lane when a crankshaft sensor failed with barely 20 laps to go while running second – and looking like the car to beat.
The day turned into a horror story for the pole-sitting Kostecki/Hazelwood Ford, with a clutch problem, an electrical issue that required a driver change and then Kostecki copping a pitlane drive-through penalty after hitting Kai Allen’s Ford from behind. After two trips across the grass the pole car was classified 18th.
His fellow front-row qualifier Cam Waters likewise struggled, his co-driver Mark Winterbottom keeping tough with the leaders until he was caught on slick tyres when the rain came. He ran off the road at Forrest’s Elbow and after pitting for repairs, dropped a lap before getting it back under a wave-around, and was classified 12th.
The Supercars will now head for the Gold Coast for two 250km races, the first of the inaugural Finals series, on 24-25 October.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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