Winner Matt Payne and drivers detail going 300mh/h in near darkness on wet track

“I had no idea who was in front of me, who was next to me. It was just scary.”

He added with a laugh: “I have children now. I have things to live for.”

Payne agreed with this assessment of the conditions, explaining that there was fog at the top of the mountain, as well as “rivers” flowing along the track, causing cars to float through the water.

“Look, it was pretty hairy,” he said. “There was a period when the tracks were very wet.

“It was becoming quite erratic as there were a lot of rivers crossing the road… you had to drive on a very small piece of road to try to keep the car on the track and not make any mistakes.

“I think everyone has scored a goal or two in the last few rounds.”

The 23-year-old from Auckland said concentrating so intensely for so long was “very, very tiring”.

This victory cemented the Penrite Ford driver’s second place in the championship as we progressed towards the first final of the series.

Three play-off races will be held at Gold Coast, Sandown and Adelaide, with the top 10 drivers all having a chance to overtake series leader Broc Feeney.

“That would definitely be the ultimate goal for us,” Payne said of winning the championship.

“When I first joined Supercars Bathurst was always very high on our list… but the championship was always the ultimate goal.

“We’re doing everything we can for that right now and trying to eliminate it.”

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Payne’s only minor disappointment at Bathurst was that he didn’t cross the finish line first. He came right behind James Golding after realizing the Victorian player had been handed a five-second penalty.

This meant Payne did not need to take unnecessary risks and overtake on the final lap.

“I didn’t really want to let it go, I really wanted to win straight away, you know, of course be the first one across the line… [but] “I just had to give him the position,” he said. “Dave [Reynolds] He was so close behind me that we had to focus on that. ”