![\"Grove](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Payne-Tander-Bathurst.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPayne and Tander won a thrilling Bathurst 1000. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPayne and Tander won a thrilling Bathurst 1000. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n
Victory for Matt Payne and Garth Tander in the Great Race marked the squad\u2019s biggest triumph since completing a takeover of the former Kelly Racing in 2022.<\/p>\n
Named GR-01, the Bathurst-winning car was the first Gen3 Mustang built by the team based in Braeside, Melbourne.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s mount in 2025.<\/p>\n
The car won Bathurst wearing the #100 in celebration of sponsor Penrite\u2019s upcoming 100th anniversary and an accompanying livery.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Formation Lap, Payne revealed the team planned to preserve the Bathurst-winning panels and return them to the car at year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the championship is over, we\u2019ll put those panels back onto the car and have it clear-coated so it\u2019s basically just like it came off the track,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019ll look pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Tander: \u201cStephen and Brenton wanted to put it in the museum straight away, but Matty needs that car to finish the year off, we\u2019ve still got a championship to fight for!<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a pretty good way to do it. That car will finish the year and then it will be parked.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen they took the wheel off the car, the end of the spindle fell off,\u201d he said on Drivers Only.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiterally, if we had to do another pit stop, we weren\u2019t going again. That\u2019s Bathurst for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019Alberto crashed at Forrest\u2019s Elbow.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlong the side of the sump there\u2019s a couple of hardline oil lines,\u201d said Tander. \u201cIt dented them, [but] didn\u2019t tear them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sister Kai Allen\/Dale Wood Mustang also nearly succumbed to mechanical failure after suffering a series of hits throughout the 161 laps.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pulled the left front shock out of the car, and it literally fell apart,\u201d Tander said of the #26 car. \u201cThe shaft came out. Literally, the damper was broken when he finished the race.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Payne heads into the Finals placed second, having picked up 25 bonus points for winning the Endurance Cup.<\/p>\n
Supercars continues its season with the Gold Coast 500 on October 26-28.<\/p>\n