In a race that crushed the hopes of many, Kiwi racer Matt Payne surged from 18th on the grid to Bathurst glory.
Partnered with Aussie veteran Garth Tander, Payne conquered chaos, crashes and rain to win the 2025 Bathurst 1000. For Payne, it was a career-defining breakthrough. The Grove Racing combination took a win for the ages by 0.9588s over late chargers David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth.
For Tander, it was a record-equalling sixth Bathurst crown, a mark that places him alongside Larry Perkins among the Mount Panorama greats.
The epic race dealt cruel disappointment to the other Kiwi drivers. It was heartbreak for Ryan Wood, Richie Stanaway, Jaxon Evans and Fabian Coulthard. Andre Heimgartner was the ‘best of the rest’ for New Zealand, taking seventh place after fighting up the front for a podium finish towards the end.
In a race that ran to almost seven hours, the weather was always a major factor. When the race began under gloomy skies and damp patches from early showers, pole man Todd Hazelwood (co-driver for Brodie Kostecki) launched cleanly into Hell Corner, leading Mark Winterbottom and Jayden Ojeda through the first turn as the field streamed uphill.
After a bright, sunny start, rain started falling about halfway through the race and immediately transformed the 6.213-kilometre track into an ice rink.
Broc Feeney smacked the front of his Red Bull-Ampol Camaro into safety barrier under a sponsor’s sign at Forrest’s Elbow and needed a tow to untangle it. He eventually finished sixth.
Defending series champion Will Brown ploughed his Red Bull Camaro into a concrete barrier and somehow continued back to the pits with his dislodged bonnet hanging over the windscreen.
Will Davidson parked his Shell V-Power Ford on the fence at Forrest’s Elbow.
Cameron McLeod, in the Supaglass Chevrolet, spun around and ended up facing the wall. He was lucky not to cause a multi-car pile-up.
Then defending champion Kostecki slipped off the road, allowing Cam Waters to grab the lead.
Through the mayhem, Kiwi Ryan Wood was at the sharp end of the field, looking a possible winner.
Then in the sixth hour of the race, it was all over for Wood and Ojeda, their car failing with Wood at the wheel. Wood and Ojeda had driven the wheels off the #2 Mustang and were sitting in second place, but like the sister WAU entry, the engine gave up.
Golding ran wide at Hell Corner and went from fighting for the lead to clinging onto the podium.
Payne dropped back after a big slide at the high-speed Chase. Then the duelling pair of Murray and Golding made contact. It sent the Erebus rookie sliding out of the lead, though he kept the car out of the barriers to keep his podium dream alive.
However, the incident 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 his hopes of victory.
Payne, 23, had put in a spectacular drive, keeping his cool as a host of his big-name rivals went out of the race.
“It actually got really tough there when the rain was coming down at its most. There was a lot of aqua-planing on the straights, a lot of rivers, so you had to drive around them a lot … those conditions made it tricky.
“But around here, it’s ultimately one of the toughest places to race around, but in the wet, certainly with all the pressure on the top three and us to do the job.” 
Payne briefly slid off the track with nine laps left but regained control and capitalised on his lucky reprieve to secure the win.
PremiAir Camaro driver James Golding actually crossed the finish line ahead of Payne, but a five-second penalty meant he was relegated to third.
It was Tander’s sixth triumph at Bathurst, and the sixth Supercars race win of Payne’s burgeoning career.
“Bathurst is a crazy place,” Tander said. “Anything can happen … I knew it was going to be one of those days.”