How Payne has emerged as Ford's leading hope

Broc Feeney has been the benchmark, but Matt Payne has continued to push his case as Ford's leading hope for championship glory in 2025.

Feeney has claimed 10 wins and 10 poles this season, both season highs, to put himself in the box seat for the Repco Sprint Cup.

Only two drivers, Triple Eight teammate Will Brown and Ford rival Payne, can stop Feeney from taking out the Sprint Cup at the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440.

On current form, though, Payne could prove Feeney's chief rival in The Finals, with the New Zealander clearly the Triple Eight's closest match after the start of the season.

Cam Waters opened the year with three wins in Sydney, and kept pace with Brown through Melbourne. However, on the Ford side of the equation, it has been Payne leading the Blue Oval charge.

Waters was lead Ford driver in four of the first six races, but only twice since, in Tasmania and Darwin. Between Melbourne and Townsville, Payne and Chaz Mostert were lead Ford driver four times apiece.

Payne, though, has been most consistent of all. In the four rounds under the Super 440 format along with the three-race Townsville weekend, Payne has out-scored Mostert by 280 points, Waters by 325, Brodie Kostecki by 430, Ryan Wood by 500, and Thomas Randle by 507.

Why since Round 2? Well, Payne was behind Waters, Mostert and Kostecki in the points at that stage. Waters was 142 ahead of Payne, Mostert 15 ahead, and Kostecki 13.

To be nearly a whole round ahead of the next Ford driver in a five round span is an impressive feat, and one that suggests Blue Oval fans could look to Payne as being the biggest headache for Triple Eight before they too join Ford.

Payne was pleased to come out of Townsville third overall, just 15 points behind Brown, who he has out-scored by 134 points since Melbourne. Currently, Payne is 183 points ahead of Waters, and 265 ahead of Mostert.

Critically, though, the Kiwi wants a turnaround in race performance, despite only Feeney claiming more podiums across the last eight races.

“We had a really good qualifying car which was strong, just seemed to fall short in the racing unfortunately, just did not quite have the car speed that we needed for the podium,” Payne said after finishing fifth in the Townsville finale.

“It’s a little bit disappointing when we put a lot of effort into qualifying to make sure that’s an improvement year on year, and then we sort of don’t back it up for the racing – so that’s clearly something for us to look at. But definitely a good points haul this weekend – did not finish outside the top five which is really good for us.

“I think we can definitely hold our heads high after this one and be proud of what we achieved.

“I think it’s great to come out of this weekend still in third. Obviously we were pretty close to Will coming into this weekend. I think we did everything we could this weekend in terms of results with the car speed we had, but it’s certainly going to be hard going into Ipswich.

“That’s their test track so no doubt they’ll be pretty fast. It’s going to be tough to keep that third. It’s the final round as well so it’s all to play for – but we’ll come out swinging.”

The 2025 Supercars season resumes at the Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440. Supercars drivers will contest three races at the August 8-10 event. Tickets are on sale now. International viewers can watch the action on SuperView.

Points scored since Round 2

Points scored across the five rounds/15 races after Melbourne