Will Davison

What are you expecting from the weekend? What are, what sort of-- who's, who's looking like they might, uh, get up there? I know we had the, the, the fantastic teaming up, uh, last year, Mattie Payne, of course, uh, getting up over the line, but who, who looks favorite this year?

Well, I, I think, again, Mattie Payne's probably favorite at the moment, and he's got Will Davison joining him this year.

Um, and that's, uh, a really powerful combination.

Mm.

He won last year.

He has, uh, Will Davison, uh, a two-time Bathurst winner as a co-driver, so go, go Matt Payne.

Uh, bring on the Great Race, and, and look, I, I, I hope it rains like it did last year 'cause that was a good time.

[engine roaring]

It's fantastic.

And when you look at the n- the talent that's behind it, let's not forget you've got the guest drivers, Tim Slade, Fabian Coulthard, Chris Pither, Jackson Evans, Todd Hazelwood's in there, and also Will Davison, all well-credentialed drivers who have h- won in Supercars, and they're basically mentors to these young drivers.

People like Brock Stinson, who's been dominating the series this year, and we saw him do very well at the Bathurst 6 Hour earlier in the year in a similar Toyota 86 with Annabelle Raffo, a former guest of ours.

Like, he's been a very, very strong prospect that has emerged from this year's GR Cup.

So here we go, got it for you.

Just found it.

So up until, up until Queensland Raceway, so we are including Will Davison, we had 22 Bathurst 1000 race winners, we had 63 Bathurst 1000 podium finishers.

We, we had 219 Australian Touring Car Championship or Supercar race winners, and then we also had four, uh, Supercar champions, and that's just in the invited drivers list alone.

We're speaking to six-time Bathurst 1000 champion in Garth Tander, who won it last year with Matt Payne.

Uh, Matt's in with Will Davison this year.

Um, h- who are the, who are the big ones that we're really looking for? For people who watch Bathurst once a year in the V8 Supercars, what's...

Who are we looking for?

Because you could list 10, 15 cars that are capable of winning this race, and that's what makes Ba- Bathurst so special, it is so competitive and so tough to win.

But, you know, Brodie Kostecki in, in the Shell V-Power Mustang's been in incredible form.

Um, Matt Payne and Will Davison, you know, Matt's obviously still the reigning champion, as is Penrite Racing.

They'll be very strong this year.

Look, I think there's probably six or eight combinations that you probably couldn't really make a call that heavy.

I think if I had to say the strongest combination would be Matt Payne and Will Davison.

So Will Davison is only just got out of the permanent seat at Dick Johnson Racing from last year.

He's a two-time winner.

Matt Payne won the last Bathurst race last year in the rain.

He's part of the broadcast this weekend and commentating for Supercars on TV now.

And bolt in Will Davison, two-time Bathurst winner, uh, recently with Dick Johnson Racing.

It's a pretty good like for like swap.

So these top teams have all got some really great drivers to support their, uh, full-time regular drivers.

He's got a different co-driver this year.

But it's pretty good when you can trade out Garth Tander, who's retired, he's part of the broadcast this weekend and commentating for Supercars on TV now, and bolt in Will Davison, two-time Bathurst winner, uh, recently with Dick Johnson Racing.

It's a pretty good like for like swap.

So these top teams have all got some really great drivers to support their, uh, full-time regular drivers.