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How Matt Payne’s Bathurst triumph changed his approach to Mount Panorama
Sport Nation • September 28th, 2026 5:47 pm
Matt Payne and Garth Tander celebrate after winning the 2025 Bathurst 1000 | Photo: Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Matt Payne will defend his Bathurst 1000 title with a mindset different to what he had in 2025.
The 23-year-old Kiwi shared the Mount Panorama victory with Garth Tander, but will this year be partnered by Will Davison, who retired from full-time racing at the end of 2025.
Bathurst is an event that Supercars drivers can only dream of winning, and when it finally happened for Payne, relief came before anything else.
“I think some people probably would have been more excited to win that, I think I was more relieved of anything to know finally it's done,” he told Sport Nation Afternoons.
“Every time you turn up at Bathurst, you're just hoping it's your year and you're hoping that you can get it done and then it's like a weight of the world is off your shoulders because you just want that accolade.
“The relief the weeks after and even to this day, feeling the weight off your shoulders, knowing that you've done it is pretty crazy, it's a nice feeling to have.”
Matt Payne on winning Bathurst from 18th | Sport Nation Afternoons
Now, rather than arriving focused on the pressure to win, Payne can draw confidence from knowing he has already done it, while remaining aware the mountain can throw a curve ball at any given time.
“You go there with a different view on it and you have a bit of a different perspective like ‘yeah we've already conquered this once it's certainly possible.’
“I understand that the mountain always chooses and it's going to be a different day each Sunday when it comes around, but I think for me, I'm a lot more content with what I've got.
“I'm probably more on the bucket of it is what it is and we'll just take what we can and if that's a win then that's great.”
Among the full-time drivers, only Payne, Brodie Kostecki and Chaz Mostert have previously won the Bathurst 1000, leaving front-runners Broc Feeney, Will Brown, Cam Waters and Ryan Wood still chasing their first victory.
“It's hard because the longer you go on without getting it done, the more pressure each time you turn up to the track, so then the weekends get harder to execute.
“It's like this horrible cycle of going and turning up every year hoping it's going to be great and then all of a sudden, the mountain can say, ‘no, I'm going to make you wait another year.’”
And it was only in 2024 when Payne crashed out in the final stages of the race while in 8th position.
“It's tough because you really want you really want to win it and it's 161 laps of you can either make it happen or it can be over like that,” he explained.
“That's why it's one of the hardest races to win in the world because you have to go through so many decisions made throughout the day to eventually get to the finish line first.”
Winning so early in his career has left Payne feeling fortunate, and changed how he weighs up the race against his wider goals.
Matt Payne | Photo: Photosport
“It does change your perspective a little bit,” he shared.
“That's why I feel so lucky to be in the position I am because being at my age only being in the sport for so long, I feel pretty privileged to have put myself into that position.
“I think Bathurst for us, it's huge but for me now after getting Bathurst done the championship is a much more rounded picture.”
Payne qualified for the newly formatted finals series in 2025, but his campaign ended at the Sandown 500.
He and Waters came together, damaging Payne’s steering while both drivers were running in positions that would have secured them a place in the Adelaide Grand Final.
Listen to the full interview below:
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