Supercars Bathurst 2025

[Cromulant]

Funnily enough it’s one of the only artificial things/rules that I don’t mind.

I’m still yet to be sold on “finals” though.

Yeah im not sold on it either, but I dont mind them giving it a go.

 

[Cromulant]

Who would’ve thought that Stanaway would bin it in the wet?

He just looks like he doesnt care anymore. Thought he was good enough to make a top team as a sole driver and got found out.

Should stick to co-driving.

 

[Vader]

Another incident I noted from the timing totem pole, but which was never seen or mentioned in commentary, was another incident involving Cam Waters. After the SC re-start where he and Feeney had lucky dogged their way back on to the lead lap (and on the end of the lead group), Waters was running around 7th or 8th - then all of a sudden he was 15th and last of the cars on the lead lap. Based on the timing, he appeared to have lost ~10-15 seconds. I'd love to know what happened there...

My guess is that he ran off into the sand trap at The Chase (but didn't need assistance in extricating his vehicle). Alternatively, he may have overshot Hell Corner (Turn 1). Both of these seemed to be common mistakes, which cost drivers time but didn't force them out of the race or result in SC boards and flags. Those are my guesses - but given the complete lack of coverage, they are just that: guesses.

 

[Colonial]

Considering the weather they are good numbers, even if slightly inflated like all sports do.

 

[Cromulant]

Considering the weather they are good numbers, even if slightly inflated like all sports do.

I reckon they are VERY inflated.

A lot of empty space.

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Think Cooper Murray will be kicking himself with 2 mistakes in the dipper 2 laps in a row with about 8 laps to go. Had a fair gap and ran wide both times which put Payne right on him.

 

[Cromulant]

Think Cooper Murray will be kicking himself with 2 mistakes in the dipper 2 laps in a row with about 8 laps to go. Had a fair gap and ran wide both times which put Payne right on him.

Kid did well to minimise his mistakes TBH, he''s made a number of bad ones this year, and he wasnt alone yesterday.

A lot of bigger names than him stuffed it into the wall.... or Kai Allen.

 

[Colonial]

Think Cooper Murray will be kicking himself with 2 mistakes in the dipper 2 laps in a row with about 8 laps to go. Had a fair gap and ran wide both times which put Payne right on him.

Nah he got kicked anything his punishment far outward the mistake

 

[Vader]

I wonder if the Golding hit on Murray did any damage to his (Murray's) car? Prior to that he was running at the same pace as Payne & Golding. After it, he lost ~1 second per lap - all the way to the finish.

It could be that his tyres were pressured differently, giving him an edge early in the run, but resulting in his tyres going off later - so he could no longer maintain the pace of the leaders. Alternatively, the back of his car did hit the wall when Golding half-turned him, so maybe there was some damage done which slowed him down. Could also be a bit from column A and a bit from column B.

 

[Cromulant]

I wonder if the Golding hit on Murray did any damage to his (Murray's) car? Prior to that he was running at the same pace as Payne & Golding. After it, he lost ~1 second per lap - all the way to the finish.

It could be that his tyres were pressured differently, giving him an edge early in the run, but resulting in his tyres going off later - so he could no longer maintain the pace of the leaders. Alternatively, the back of his car did hit the wall when Golding half-turned him, so maybe there was some damage done which slowed him down. Could also be a bit from column A and a bit from column B.

I did wonder that myself, he deserved that 3rd place at the very least.

I guess he's also a young kid and it probably would've rattled him so late in the race. Hard to get back into a rhythm in those conditions maybe, but thats what makes a guy like Payne so special.

 

[Jatz]

Managed to watch the entire race on delay, finishing up near 1am (thankfully thought to extend the recordings into the next program).

A few notes:

• The rain just improves the day 100 fold. What looked like a pretty straight forward race ended up being anything but.
• Can't help but feel Golding threw away a win there. I think he had the strongest car of the 3 front runners, just wasn't patient enough. Take nothing away from Payne though, he deserved it.
• If a Ford has to win, I'm glad it's the one with Tander in it. 6 time champ is pretty special - I will say though, I was pretty underwhelmed with his opening stint in the dry. He's still capable but I think he's pretty clearly not the driver he once was (likewise Whincup etc).
• Poor old Kai Allen. Must've felt like he was driving around with a target on his back. Wrong place, wrong time on more than one occasion.
• Was odd seeing both WAU cars fail - they're normally so strong up the mountain but hard to believe they wouldn't be bitterly disappointed with how it eventuated for them.
• Meant little in the end but the Will Brown penalty felt very, very light to me. Got the same penalty Le Brocq did for minor contact at Murray's corner. Brown was never in a million years making that corner - feel like that deserved a drive through.
• It's amazing just how far up the grid some finished, just by staying out of trouble. Even Feeney finished 6th after being parked at Forest Elbow for a good chunk of time. I barely remember seeing Cam Hill all day and he ended up top 5.

 

[Jatz]

The only other thing, I think the broadcast felt lacking this year.

Crompton even lamented at one point that in 2025 there wasn't an easy way to tell what tyre drivers were on. Which seemed strange to me as I assume Fox has control of that?

I also think the commentators just missed certain events. Late in the race, Waters went from 7th or 8th to 15th - not only was there no highlight, it wasn't even mentioned verbally. I understand he wasn't in contention but it was still worth noting I thought.

 

[Colonial]

 

[Vader]

I also think the commentators just missed certain events. Late in the race, Waters went from 7th or 8th to 15th - not only was there no highlight, it wasn't even mentioned verbally. I understand he wasn't in contention but it was still worth noting I thought.

You're not the only one who noticed that - I flagged it in a post I wrote earlier this morning.

 

[Vader]

It's interesting how one strategic decision turned the whole race on its head...

When the rain initially came down it was still fairly light. The track conditions were greasy, but the slick tyre was still the fastest option. As a result, when the lead runners came in for their first stop (Kostecki, Feeney, Waters, Mostert), they all chose to remain on slicks. However, with the rain intensifying, all of these drivers were forced to pit again at the end of the 2nd SC (caused by Mostert's engine going kaput), this time putting wet tyres on their cars. This put them behind all of the runners who opted for wet tyres first time around. None of the big names were able to recover from this mistake.

Feeney came closest to recovering, getting as high as 4th - and only ~5 seconds off the lead - when he put it into the wall at Forrest Elbow. This was largely due to cold tyres.

In contrast, Waters & Kostecki (even more so) were victims of the red mist, which grew ever more intense as they became increasingly frustrated at their inability to work their way out of the mid-pack. Ultimately, Kostecki would crash out of the race completely, while Waters nursed his injured car to the finish line as last runner on the lead lap.

These drivers were clearly the head of the class during the early running, when the weather was dry. Things changed dramatically as a result of that strategic decision (to remain on slicks) - a strategy which they all adopted, and which backfired on all of them.

 

[Cromulant]

Managed to watch the entire race on delay, finishing up near 1am (thankfully thought to extend the recordings into the next program).

A few notes:

• The rain just improves the day 100 fold. What looked like a pretty straight forward race ended up being anything but.
• Can't help but feel Golding threw away a win there. I think he had the strongest car of the 3 front runners, just wasn't patient enough. Take nothing away from Payne though, he deserved it.
• If a Ford has to win, I'm glad it's the one with Tander in it. 6 time champ is pretty special - I will say though, I was pretty underwhelmed with his opening stint in the dry. He's still capable but I think he's pretty clearly not the driver he once was (likewise Whincup etc).
• Poor old Kai Allen. Must've felt like he was driving around with a target on his back. Wrong place, wrong time on more than one occasion.
• Was odd seeing both WAU cars fail - they're normally so strong up the mountain but hard to believe they wouldn't be bitterly disappointed with how it eventuated for them.
• Meant little in the end but the Will Brown penalty felt very, very light to me. Got the same penalty Le Brocq did for minor contact at Murray's corner. Brown was never in a million years making that corner - feel like that deserved a drive through.
• It's amazing just how far up the grid some finished, just by staying out of trouble. Even Feeney finished 6th after being parked at Forest Elbow for a good chunk of time. I barely remember seeing Cam Hill all day and he ended up top 5.

Yeah the Whincups, Lowndes, Tanders of the world have fallen away. Comes with age I reckon.

Likewise a guy like TD who wasnt at their level has slipped, and Moffat. Thought Perkins went well, as did Zak Best in rubbish cars. Holdsworth always performs well up there.

 

[Vader]

Yeah the Whincups, Lowndes, Tanders of the world have fallen away. Comes with age I reckon.

Likewise a guy like TD who wasnt at their level has slipped, and Moffat. Thought Perkins went well, as did Zak Best in rubbish cars. Holdsworth always performs well up there.

They're not as fast as they were back in the day when they were winning the Drivers Championship, but I thought they all did OK yesterday.

I thought Whincup did a particularly good job, in tricky conditions, overtaking a LOT of cars as he attempted to recover from their strategic tyre blunder. Ultimately, it was Feeney who put the car into the barrier at Forrest Elbow, as a result of cold tyres.

 

[Cromulant]

They're not as fast as they were back in the day when they were winning the Drivers Championship, but I thought they all did OK yesterday.

I thought Whincup did a particularly good job, in tricky conditions, overtaking a LOT of cars as he attempted to recover from their strategic tyre blunder. Ultimately, it was Feeney who put the car into the barrier at Forrest Elbow, as a result of cold tyres.

Im kinda factoring in Whincup at The Bend as well, he made a few errors you wouldnt expect.

Both RB main drivers didnt have the best ends of the race as such, but again they weren't alone

 

[Vader]

Im kinda factoring in Whincup at The Bend as well, he made a few errors you wouldnt expect.

Both RB main drivers didnt have the best ends of the race as such, but again they weren't alone

Whincup made a LOT of mistakes at The Bend. He was much better at Bathurst. RB's failures yesterday were not the fault of Whincup as co-driver.

Feeney ended up 6th, which was a pretty damn good result - considering the tyre strategy blunder and losing 2 laps after getting wedged in the barrier at Forrest Elbow (which he regained due to the lucky dog rule).

That's a much better result than Brown (17th, 2 laps down), Kostecki (18th, 6 laps) and Mostert (DNF, 104 laps).

 

[Vader]

I did wonder that myself, he deserved that 3rd place at the very least.

I guess he's also a young kid and it probably would've rattled him so late in the race. Hard to get back into a rhythm in those conditions maybe, but thats what makes a guy like Payne so special.

Murray puts it down to the tyres:
https://speedcafe.com/toughen-up-princess-erebus-rookies-bathurst-reality-check/

 

[Jatz]

Im kinda factoring in Whincup at The Bend as well, he made a few errors you wouldnt expect.

Both RB main drivers didnt have the best ends of the race as such, but again they weren't alone

Will Brown's was especially disappointing, it just didn't need to happen.

If he'd kept it clean and tidy he likely would've been in the fighting pack at the end.

Was strange seeing so many senior drivers make poor mistakes (Brodie, Broc, Frosty, Brown etc).

 

[Big Sauce 21]

Top 10 for "FINALS" was tight. Hill and Heimgartner out by 3 points each. Importance of getting ADP and Wood back out got them in.

Why is the main thread locked ?

 

[Vader]

With the Sprint Cup and Enduro Cup now run and won, the Supercars Championship moves into the Finals...

Here are the 10 drivers who qualified for Finals, and the number of points they will start with:
Feeney - 3175
Payne - 3145
Brown - 3096
Waters - 3078
Kostecki - 3066
Mostert - 3057
De Pasquale - 3048
Randle - 3039
Wood - 3030
Allen - 3021

Feeney gets 150 for finishing 1st, plus a 25pt bonus for winning the Sprint Cup. Payne gets 120 + 25 for winning the Enduro Cup.

 

[largebus]

Still not a fan of the lucky dog scenario.

Yes I get its a made for TV thing that has as many cars back on the lead lap as possible.... but bring back the good old days where you had to fight your way back instead of being gifted it.

I dont like it but the alternative is a greater risk of a lapped car ruining the race. There were a few near misses yesterday in the driving rain with the rule

 

[Vader]

Top 10 for "FINALS" was tight. Hill and Heimgartner out by 3 points each. Importance of getting ADP and Wood back out got them in.

Why is the main thread locked ?

The mods wanted to keep Bathurst posts from spreading across multiple threads. It can probably be unlocked again now.