Payne on what it means to return to Bathurst as winner\u2026 and what it\u2019ll take to do it again<\/a><\/p>\nA young gun, on the other hand, could offer greater theoretical potential but also the risk of them being unable to strike that balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a young co-driver, because it is a job audition, you are putting yourself in the shop window with all the teams up and down pit lane, not just the team that you\u2019re driving for,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou want to be fast, but you don\u2019t want to make a mistake, because if you make a mistake, it\u2019s almost like the black line comes through your name and you\u2019re on the back burner for a couple of years until you try and fight your way back in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s probably more brutal for the younger co-drivers, which is tough, absolutely tough. It\u2019s hard on them, absolutely hard on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘A real shame’ – George gutted after DNF | 01:42<\/p>\n
THE KEY CONTENDERS<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Fox Sports Pit Talk podcast, Tander analysed some of the key driver pairings to watch in this year\u2019s edition of Australia\u2019s Great Race.<\/p>\n
Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard<\/p>\n
Car: No. 1 Walkinshaw TWG Racing Toyota Supra<\/p>\n
Seasons together: 2 (2005\u201326)<\/p>\n
Entries: 37 (Mostert: 14; Coulthard: 23)<\/p>\n
Wins: 2 (Mostert: 2014, 2021)<\/p>\n
2026 championship: 8th, 1713 points<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, firstly on the Toyota aspect, it became pretty obvious pretty early in the year that they were going to be more of contenders than a lot of people were expecting given their performance \u2014 pole positions and race wins in the first three or four race weekends of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was like, \u2018Oh, wow, that\u2019s way ahead of schedule\u2019. Now they\u2019ve gone on and won the 500km race at Tailem Bend, that will give certainly Toyota and the Toyota teams some confidence heading to Bathurst, for sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cFabs as a co-driver is really experienced \u2014 been there, done that. It was great to see him get his first 500km race win at Tailem Bend \u2014 and we saw from Chaz last year that he timed his run to the championship so spectacularly well. He came from not a lull in form, but he wasn\u2019t so spectacular in the mid part of the year last year and certainly got the run all the way to Adelaide really, really strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s potentially starting that run now, and we know how good he is at Bathurst. We\u2019ve seen that before. He\u2019s won the race twice before. There\u2019s no better form than recent form, and they\u2019re the most recent race winners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard lead the Enduro Cup. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Matt Payne and Will Davison<\/p>\n
Car: No. 19 Grove Racing Ford Mustang<\/p>\n
Seasons together: 1 (2026)<\/p>\n
Entries: 28 (Payne: 5; Davison: 23)<\/p>\n
Wins: 3 (Payne: 2026; Davison: 2009, 2016)<\/p>\n
2026 championship: 1st, 2275 points<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly two-time Bathurst winners don\u2019t grow on trees. There\u2019s not a lot of them, so when I\u2019d retired and when Will became available at the end of last year, it was a great signing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done the right thing. He\u2019s been racing all year in the GT Championship. He\u2019s done plenty of race miles, and that I think is important.<\/p>\n
\u201cI certainly found when I stopped racing full-time it was important for me to keep myself busy, because it is pretty heartbreaking when you finish your full-time career. You go, \u2018What do I do now?\u2019 Well, you keep yourself busy. You keep yourself busy by racing cars, and that\u2019s what Will\u2019s done.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very, very strong at Tailem Bend. He got taken out in the first corner and fought back through the field really well in really tricky conditions. A huge amount of experience at Bathurst with Will Davison.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously Matt showed last year his ability in the last 30 laps in those really tricky conditions \u2014 and realistically the last 10 laps, when it became quite a dogfight between those four cars for the race win \u2014 just how calm he was under pressure, and that\u2019s certainly what you need at Mount Panorama.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Davison and Matt Payne (Photo: Supplied)Source: Facebook<\/p>\n
Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood<\/p>\n
Car: No. 17 Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang<\/p>\n
Seasons together: 3 (2024\u201326)<\/p>\n
Entries: 18 (Kostecki: 8; Hazelwood: 10)<\/p>\n
Wins: 1 (Kostecki and Hazelwood: 2024)<\/p>\n
2026 championship: 4th, 1971 points<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can create a level of stability between your primary driver and co-driver, like Brodie and Todd have, then that\u2019s absolutely an advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cTodd has turned himself from what was a bit of a Supercars journeyman in his full-time career into the model co-driver. He is as pliable as Play-Doh. He just jumps in, does the job, does all the stuff that Brodie doesn\u2019t like doing, and Todd does it with a smile on his face \u2014 and Todd\u2019s fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had a tough Tailem Bend. It sounds like they didn\u2019t get the car right for those wet conditions and it was quite tricky to drive, but he\u2019s got the runs on the board, Todd Hazelwood.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a combination, these two, from a driving perspective, are certainly the strongest because of that enduring relationship. It\u2019s three years that they\u2019ve been together. It\u2019s not a long time, but it certainly makes a difference when you\u2019ve got that historical relationship there.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrodie knows that Todd\u2019s got Todd\u2019s back. Todd knows that Brodie\u2019s got his back, and that makes a massive difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Triple Eight<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get a read on Triple Eight this year and the Red Bull cars, because I certainly felt like at Queensland Raceway, the event before Tailem Bend, that they\u2019d found their mojo and they were back where they deserve to be speed-wise, where they historically have been for so long.<\/p>\n
\u201cBroc was super strong, Will Brown was fast after they found that air restrictor thing. You thought, \u2018Oh yep, they\u2019re back\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cTailem Bend they were there but sort of just speed-wise. Then they got involved with all sorts of hijinks and chaos in what was a tricky race certainly. But you qualify deeper in the field, you expose yourself to getting caught up in those sorts of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expected to go to Tailem Bend and see at least one Red Bull car on the front row for the 500km race, and that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to get a read on them going into Bathurst.<\/p>\n
Todd Hazelwood and Brodie Kostecki. (Photo by Robert Cianflone\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Broc Feeney and Nick Percat<\/p>\n
Car: No. 88 Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang<\/p>\n
Seasons together: 1 (2026)<\/p>\n
Entries: 22 (Feeney: 7; Percat: 15)<\/p>\n
Wins: 1 (Percat: 2011)<\/p>\n
2026 championship: 2nd, 2155 points<\/p>\n
\u201cAs awesome a Jamie is \u2014 and his record is unmatched as far as seven-time champion and four-time Bathurst winner \u2014 he wasn\u2019t doing a lot of other driving through the year, so I think actually bringing Nick Percat in makes the Feeney car a little bit stronger, because Nick\u2019s just finished full-time competing, still involved and not the MD of the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cJamie for 362 days of the year his job is to run Triple Eight Race Engineering, then he jumps into the endurance races, whereas Nick\u2019s sole focus this year has been getting a result in Broc Feeney\u2019s race car. I think that makes that car a little bit stronger with a little bit more of a competitive edge going to Bathurst.<\/p>\n
Broc Feeney. (Photo by Daniel Kalisz\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Will Brown and Scott Pye<\/p>\n
Car: No. 888 Triple Eight Race Engineering Ford Mustang<\/p>\n
Seasons together: 3 (2024\u201326)<\/p>\n
Entries: 24 (Brown: 9; Pye: 15)<\/p>\n
Wins: 0<\/p>\n
2026 championship: 7th, 1870 points<\/p>\n
\u201cWill Brown and Scott Pye \u2014 who knows? We all thought the qualifying dramas were fixed after Queensland Raceway, and it sort of went back again at Tailem Bend, then Scott had to start in the pack. He got involved in some dramas, got penalties, damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said we don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to get from Red Bull at the moment, and I don\u2019t know yet either, so we\u2019ll wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Brown. (Picture: Shae Beplate)Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Cam Waters and Mark Winterbottom<\/p>\n
Car: No. 6 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang<\/p>\n
Seasons together: 2 (2025\u201326)<\/p>\n
Entries: 39 (Waters: 15; Winterbottom: 24)<\/p>\n
Wins: 1 (Winterbottom: 2013)<\/p>\n
2026 championship: 5th, 1962 points<\/p>\n
\u201cFrosty has a huge amount of experience at Bathurst, and Cam \u2014 a label that he\u2019ll be starting to hate having is the perennial bridesmaid at Bathurst. He\u2019s had a lot of podiums without a race win. I have no doubt that there\u2019s a lot of motivation there for Cam to have success.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrosty got caught out from the conditions last year, so he\u2019ll be looking for a bit of redemption as far as a co-driver as well. I think that\u2019s another combination that we need to keep an eye on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Who else is in the mix?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnton de Pasquale and Lee Holdsworth, the Erebus cars \u2014 we saw last year Cooper Murray was in the mix at the end of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be someone that we have not spoken about here that will be in the mix at some stage on Sunday Bathurst Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the beauty of Bathurst \u2014 it always has this ability to throw some unique storylines at you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Garth Tander announced his retirement from racing last November, he guaranteed he would bow out of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-918907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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