Payne and Tander won a thrilling Bathurst 1000. Image: Supplied
Victory for Matt Payne and Garth Tander in the Great Race marked the squad’s biggest triumph since completing a takeover of the former Kelly Racing in 2022.
Named GR-01, the Bathurst-winning car was the first Gen3 Mustang built by the team based in Braeside, Melbourne.
It was campaigned by David Reynolds through the 2023 season, which included victory on the Gold Coast, before sitting as a spare last year and then becoming Payne’s mount in 2025.
The car won Bathurst wearing the #100 in celebration of sponsor Penrite’s upcoming 100th anniversary and an accompanying livery.
Speaking on the Formation Lap, Payne revealed the team planned to preserve the Bathurst-winning panels and return them to the car at year’s end.
“When the championship is over, we’ll put those panels back onto the car and have it clear-coated so it’s basically just like it came off the track,” he said. “I think it’ll look pretty cool.”
Added Tander: “Stephen and Brenton wanted to put it in the museum straight away, but Matty needs that car to finish the year off, we’ve still got a championship to fight for!
“This is a pretty good way to do it. That car will finish the year and then it will be parked.”
Tander, meanwhile, revealed two surprises uncovered by the team in the aftermath of a gruelling race in which the car suffered several bouts of final stint contact.
“When they took the wheel off the car, the end of the spindle fell off,” he said on Drivers Only.
“Literally, if we had to do another pit stop, we weren’t going again. That’s Bathurst for you.”
There had also been a lucky escape earlier in the race as the #100 Mustang ran over a shock absorber deposited onto the track when Tony D’Alberto crashed at Forrest’s Elbow.
“Along the side of the sump there’s a couple of hardline oil lines,” said Tander. “It dented them, [but] didn’t tear them.”
The sister Kai Allen/Dale Wood Mustang also nearly succumbed to mechanical failure after suffering a series of hits throughout the 161 laps.
“They pulled the left front shock out of the car, and it literally fell apart,” Tander said of the #26 car. “The shaft came out. Literally, the damper was broken when he finished the race.”
Allen, who had a near-miss with a kangaroo on Conrod Straight in the closing laps, clung onto the last Finals Series slot by finishing eighth.
Payne heads into the Finals placed second, having picked up 25 bonus points for winning the Endurance Cup.
Supercars continues its season with the Gold Coast 500 on October 26-28.