Matt Payne has become King of the Mountain in a wet weather shemozzle at the Bathurst 1000. 

He has joined the high-octane New Zealand pantheon of Jim and Steven Richards, Greg Murphy, Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin. 

The 23-year-old and his co-driver Garth Tander climbed from 18th to take the title in minimal visibility, sneaking into the lead for the first time when James Golding and Cooper Murray collided with a couple of laps remaining. 

Golding crossed the line first but was handed a five-second penalty for the incident. 

Payne told Mike Hosking being in the cockpit was pretty hard work. 

“There was a couple of times where, where all I was thinking was just actually trying to stay on the road.” 

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