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Bathurst preview: Who are the frontrunners at Mt Panorama for 2025?
Duncan Perkinson • October 10th, 2025 8:51 am
2024 Supercars champion Will Brown I Photo: AAP
With practice sessions from Bathurst now underway, it is worth considering who are the leading candidates to win the great race on Sunday.
Broc Feeney & Jamie Whincup
Red Bull Ampol Racing
The favourites with the bookies and understandably so, given Broc Feeney's outstanding form, with 14 poles and 12 race wins already this season.
Red Bull Ampol Racing have been the current gold standard for Supercars teams. Their quality, experience and leadership are evident from the very top.
The question with this pairing is whether the 500km race at The Bend in South Australia last month (the only endurance race held so far this season) was an aberration or was there something more to it?
The other question mark hanging over the team is Jamie Whincup’s lack of time on the track.
In June, Whincup told the official Supercars website: “It’s ride days for me at this stage, and a bit of simulation stuff. So, limited racing for me before the enduros.”
It's hard to doubt a pairing who finished second at Bathurst last year and includes a legend in four-time Bathurst winner in Whincup, but with the new regulations which mandate a co-driver to complete 60 laps this year (up from the previous 52), this writer is going to put his neck on the block and pick against the favourites.
Brodie Kostecki & Todd Hazelwood
Shell V-Power Racing Team
The defending champions are also one of the leading contenders this year.
Hazelwood is in great racing form, winning the lead-in event at The Bend, while Kostecki won the first of the three races at Townsville.
But Dick Johnson Racing have not won Bathurst since Scott McLaughlin was behind the wheel in 2019, which is also the last time a Ford won 'The Great Race'.
Brodie Kostecki | Photo: Photosport
Will Brown & Scott Pye
Red Bull Ampol Racing
After being crowned Supercars champion last year, Will Brown has had a frustrating first half of 2025.
His disappointing one-lap qualifying speed has meant that he has started too many races down the grid, and while he has often carved his way through the field, he is currently sitting third in the standings.
Poor qualifying and then having to make up ground in the race is exactly what happened at The Bend, where Brown made an error in qualifying and started from 16th. While he and Scott Pye drove through the field to finish in fourth, Brown’s speed is proving costly.
Having reached the championship summit, perhaps it is a case (as it often is for some sportspeople) there isn’t the motivation to climb that mountain again. He has had an eye on American racing and has twice raced in the Nascar and Nascar Xfinity series this year.
While he may be the current champion, Brown has never won Bathurst, and his desire to do so can’t be understated. Although, if he again qualifies down the field, it increases the risks as trouble often happens in the mid-pack.
But equally, if Brown can qualify in the top half-dozen or so on Friday qualifying, and then compete well in Saturday’s Top Ten Shootout - with 1000 km on Sunday - he and Pye could be a big chance.
Matt Payne & Garth Tander
Penrite Racing
New Zealand’s leading hope at Bathurst this year is 23-year-old Matt Payne.
He is second in the championship, having won races at Taupo and Tasmania. He sits behind Feeney in the title race and has been consistent throughout the season.
His ability to look after his tires is akin to a superpower and depending on if and when the safety appear car appears and how the race pans out, this may give him a significant edge.
His co-driver is the experienced Garth Tander, who has won the race five times and his experience at Bathurst will prove invaluable.
But as the nature of his wins attest, it seems Payne is a better driver when he can drive away from the field, rather than being involved in close-racing combat.
Those victories have generally been by significant margins. This is unlikely to happen at Bathurst where safety cars are more common and subsequently compress the field together.
Cam Waters & Mark Winterbottom
Tickford Racing
Cam Waters has had a difficult, so-close-yet-so-far history at Bathurst. He has been racing here since he was a teenager. Now just 31, this is his 14th attempt to conquer the mountain.
He has finished on the podium in three out of the last five years and finished fourth last year.
The man from Mildura has also had coming-togethers with his teammates over the years and was watching from the pits in 2023, when his former co-driver James Moffatt crashed the car.
Waters’ Ford Mustang has shown real speed throughout the year, but this has been very much racetrack dependent. On faster flowing courses he has been very quick, but less so on tighter, twisty tracks.
It could be argued that Mark Winterbottom is the best of the co-drivers. He is a previous Supercars champion and is only one year removed from when he was driving fulltime. He has returned to the Tickford team, where he was a mainstay for many years and their second place together at The Bend shows they can work together.
Should Waters win, it will be well and truly worth the wait.
Cam Waters winning the 2024 Tasmania SuperSprint | Photo: EDGE Photographics
How do the rest of the Kiwis shape up?
Ryan Wood (NZ) & Jaden Ojeda
Wood has been very fast all year. His speed is undeniable, and he has improved throughout the year. However, he has been off the road and clashed with other cars too many times. Bathurst is 1000 km and a clear head is essential.
Ojeda has not spent the season competing in either of the Supercars series, so it will be interesting to watch how he adjusts. But in saying that, Ojeda does have form, having twice finished in the top ten driving with Jack Le Brocq over the past two years.
While a definite dark-horse combination, experience on the mountain is hugely valuable and it feels that it may just be a year too soon for this very fast Kiwi.
Andre Heimgartner (NZ) & Declan Fraser
Andre Heimgartner is a consistent driver, who has been on the podium this year, but his record at Bathurst does not match his undoubted ability.
He has only finished the race half the times he has started (12 starts, 6 DNFs with just one top 10 in 2017) A top 10 would be a solid result.
Richie Stanaway (NZ) and Nash Morris
Richie Stanaway was the race winner, when co-driving with Shane van Gisbergen. He has not reached these heights over the past two years as a main game driver for Grove Racing in 2024 or for PremiAir Racing in 2025.
Stanaway can be best described as enigmatic but if the stars align, who knows how high his ceiling could be?
Nash Morris is the son of Paul Morris, who is known as 'The Dude' and famously won the race from the back of the grid in 2014. Will he be 'The New Dude' or will he be a dud?
Jaxon Evans (NZ) & Jack Smith
It would be a surprise to see this pair in the Top 10. It has been confirmed in the last few weeks that Evans will not return to the Brad Jones Racing team in 2026.
Chaz Mostert & Fabian Coulthard (NZ)
Chaz Mostert is a previous two-time winner of Bathurst (in 2014 and 2021) and has finished in the top 5 in the last five years. However, his form has been patchy at times through 2025.
This was even evident in Thursday’s first Practice session, where Mostert crashed heavily into the tire bundle locking the tires and going straight ahead at the end of Mountain straight.
Izzy Dagg's kicking tips for SVG | Scotty & Izzy
Who should you bet on?
We’ve seen in previous years that having a co-driver who had previously driven in the main game is a massive advantage.
Last year, Todd Hazelwood co-drove with Brodie Kostecki, having been a main-game driver in 2023.
Likewise, when Lee Holdsworth finished his main-game career, he won the following year with Chaz Mostert.
With this in mind, 2025 is Mark Winterbottom’s first year away from that role, and teaming up with the talented Cam Waters make them a great chance.
They drove well together at The Bend 500 to finish second and at $6.00, this seems a good investment.
$5 @$6.00 = $30.00
The TAB is also running head-to-head markets and a couple of these seem to offer good value, especially when combined in a Same-Race Multi.
Kai Allen & Dale Wood TO BEAT Andre Heimgartner & Declan Fraser
AND
Cam Waters & Mark Winterbottom TO BEAT Matt Payne & Garth Tander
AND
Brodie Kostecki & Todd Hazelwood TO BEAT Chaz Mostert & Fabian Coulthard
AND
Cam Waters & Mark Winterbottom TO BEAT Matt Payne & Garth Tander
AND
Brodie Kostecki & Todd Hazelwood TO BEAT Chaz Mostert & Fabian Coulthard
$10 @ $4.90 = $49.00
All TAB odds are current at the time of publishing - R18, please gamble responsibly.
