THE car which crossed the line first in this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000 is destined for a stint on the sidelines.
While Grove Racing’s Matt Payne and Garth Tander won the 2025 Great Race, it was the #31 Camaro of James Golding and David Russell that actually greeted the chequered flag on the road.
The latter duo were classified third however, thanks to a five-second time penalty for an instantly infamous clash at Griffins Bend between Golding and Cooper Murray.
PremiAir owner Peter Xiberras has publicly spoken of his view that Golding effectively won the race; in any case the relevant chassis will now be given a breather, at least for the short term.
Grove has already committed to a ceremonial park-up of the Penrite Mustang behind Payne and Tander’s Mount Panorama triumph, with chassis GR-01 officially retired.
MORE: Grove’s ‘biggest trophy’ escaped Adelaide unscathed
Xiberras confirmed to V8 Sleuth in Adelaide that 888A-059 (the Golding 2025 car) will be benched next year, with Jayden Ojeda remaining in 888A-064 and the spare 888A-062 chassis coming back online for recruit Declan Fraser.
888A-062 was campaigned by Tim Slade through the opening 13 rounds of the Gen3 era.