Slade and co-driver Andre Heimgartner qualified third for the 102-lap race and drove superbly in extremely wet conditions.

He held off a strong challenge from current Supercar champion, Shane van Gisbergen, in the final laps to record his first podium this year.

Slade was leading but a long pit stop due to an air jack being deployed in a dip in the pit lane surface slowed a rear tyre change.

He lost two places to the Ford’s of Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters.

 “At the time, I was disappointed, but then seeing how fast Chaz took off, I think he would’ve been pretty hard to hold off there,” Slade said

“After the run we’ve had of late, I’d definitely take any trophy.

“There is a little bit of disappointment that you lose track position that way and it’s hard to pass in these conditions.

“I’m not too disappointed, I’m happy with where we ended up.”

Heimgartner, who’s racing in Carrera Cup in 2017, and was called in at the last minute at Bathurst to replace regular BJR co-driver Ash Walsh, who missed out due to injury, made a great start and drove the Freightliner entry to a 15-second lead.

“The car was pretty good, obviously,” Heimgartner said.

“I was just steering it around, same as Richie, trying not to go down any escape roads and when I had a 15-second lead I was just trying not to screw it up.

“It was pretty good. Obviously, the car needed to be good for me to do it, but I couldn’t be happier.

“I was just there to do the job for Slade and hand the car over in the best position and any thing from there’s a bonus.”

It was a different story on Sunday with Heimgartner being hit hard from behind on lap seven and sustaining serious damage.

The car spent 17 laps in the garage being repaired, with Slade eventually finishing 23rd.

In the other BJR car, Nick Percat and Macaulay Jones bounced back after a lowly 21st in the wet on Saturday, with a solid 10th in the second race.

Bathurst winner Dave Reynolds missed the set-up for the wet weather on Saturday and was never on the pace, only managing to finish 17th.

He was fast on Sunday though, qualifying sixth, but with co-driver Luke Youlden at the wheel he hit the wall exiting the back chicane at 180 kilometres per hour, ending their race.

“Qualifying went really well, I told everyone I was going to try and be on pole and I got close, but I made an error in the Shootout,” Reynolds said.

The next race is in New Zealand next month.