{"id":474314,"date":"2025-10-07T08:53:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T08:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=474314"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:22:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T22:22:25","slug":"former-bathurst-1000-champion-announces-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=474314","title":{"rendered":"Former Bathurst 1000 champion announces retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/bathurst-1000-25a5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Bathurst 1000\">Bathurst 1000<\/a> winner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/nick-percat-2658\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Nick Percat\">Nick Percat<\/a> has announced he will retire from full-time racing after next month&#x27;s Adelaide grand final.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Percat&#x27;s future has been the centre of attention for much of this year despite the fact he had another two years on his contract with Matt Stone Racing.<\/p>\n<p>His retirement brings to close a career spanning 15 seasons (or 12 years) since his full-time debut in 2014.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/motorsport\/f1-news-2025-oscar-piastri-lando-norris-relationship-changed-singapore-gp-martin-brundle-20251007-p5n0nk.html\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>&#x27;Will irrevocably change&#x27;: Piastri, Norris reach point of no return<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2025-brisbane-broncos-payne-haas-r360-money-talks-negotiations-report-20251007-p5n0t2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"$3m Haas powerplay revealed as rebel talks postponed\ufeff\"><strong>$3m Haas powerplay revealed as rebel talks postponed\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2025-melbourne-storm-roster-overhaul-jonah-pezet-braith-anasta-comments-cameron-munster-ryan-papenhuyzen-nelson-asofa-solomona-20251007-p5n0pz.html\"><strong>Four-player puzzle that could spark major Storm overhaul<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"430f2d3f-487f-4e2f-ad83-45e001174302\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/430f2d3f-487f-4e2f-ad83-45e001174302\" alt=\"Nick Percat (left) and Garth Tander celebrate their 2011 Bathurst 1000 triumph.\" data-width=\"3000\" data-height=\"2000\" \/><\/p>\n<p>He drove for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing, Walkinshaw Andretti United and Matt Stone Racing, winning six Supercars races including a Bathurst 1000 victory in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>The 37-year-old said the decision to retire wasn&#x27;t an easy one and explained that his involvement with JND Racing (the Queensland-based karting team Percat founded) would become his focus.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;So it has been quite a lengthy decision, but on the flip side, when one door closes, another opens,&quot; Percat said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;There was probably an opportunity to stay on the grid but it&#x27;s about making sure you put yourself in the right place at the right time. So for me, now was a good time.<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6382155150112\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/pickerimage-24.jpg\" alt=\"Kostecki prepares for Bathurst challenge\" data-vms-id=\"ref:cmgfzcyqt001r0ho0sruo65r0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;We have got a lot going on with the JND kart team which is keeping us quite busy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;When there was a decision to be made, I was actually at Ipswich Kart Club watching the kids drive around, and I realised how much I do enjoy giving back to the sport and how much I enjoy watching the kids progress and learn and grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;So I was like, &#x27;You know what? Life after Supercars is still very cool&#x27;. So that made it a lot easier.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;We&#x27;ll fire up the JND stuff a bit bigger, and hopefully I&#x27;ll be able to get myself a nice co-drive and keep putting in good drives for whoever it is I might be driving alongside, and try to get some big wins in the future.&quot;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"279342c0-c08e-4779-9879-c1462314bd2b\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/279342c0-c08e-4779-9879-c1462314bd2b-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Percat racing in the 2025 Supercars championship.\" data-width=\"4000\" data-height=\"2668\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Looking back on his Supercars career, Percat admits thinking of the highlights gives him goosebumps.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I look back at how fortunate I have been to be on the grid this long,&quot; he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Winning the Adelaide 500 is still one of the greatest achievements. Just to not crash the thing because we couldn&#x27;t see, let alone to win the race at your home event, was amazing.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Bathurst 2011 with Garth [Tander] and HRT is something I&#x27;ll never forget, and every time it comes on I actually get goose bumps.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Even this year, being involved in a one-two for MSR, and my one-two with Chaz [Mostert] for the last Holden event in 2022, I have been fortunate that when I do stand on the podium they are very cool races and very meaningful.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"c5510d16-e3a8-4486-8fcf-447a9d3cc038\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/c5510d16-e3a8-4486-8fcf-447a9d3cc038-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Percat pictured in Melbourne in March 2025.\" data-width=\"4000\" data-height=\"2402\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;I have so many people to thank. Obviously I can&#x27;t look past Mum and Dad, because without them I never would have [had] the opportunity to race a car.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;And now to get to do my last Bathurst [race] as a main driver alongside Tim Slade is really, really cool because he is a good friend.&quot;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Percat will make his final full-time appearance at next month&#x27;s Adelaide grand final.<\/p>\n<p>The announcement of his retirement clears one of the final remaining seats on the 2026 grid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Former Bathurst 1000 winner Nick Percat has announced he will retire from full-time racing after next month&#x27;s Adelaide grand final.\u00a0 Percat&#x27;s future has been the <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=474314\" title=\"Former Bathurst 1000 champion announces retirement\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":474316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=474314"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474321,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474314\/revisions\/474321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/474316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=474314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=474314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=474314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}