Championship lead changes hands, but hard charger Payne wanted more

Matt Payne was going “all out” to try and overhaul Ford rival Brodie Kostecki in what proved a landmark day for the reigning Bathurst champion.

Penrite Racing star Payne fell just short of denying Shell V-Power Racing Team driver Kostecki victory in the Melbourne SuperSprint opener, with the latter winning from pole position.

The #19 Penrite Ford shadowed the #17 Shell V-Power Mustang home, with Red Bull Ampol Racing driver Broc Feeney fading in the closing laps after a Safety Car.

While it's only Race 4 of 28 in the Repco Sprint Cup, Payne now has possession of the orange numbers, which denote the championship lead — a first for Payne.

However, the New Zealander would have been more satisfied to do it with a race win, something he was unable to do on Thursday.

"I think we were pretty close,” Payne said when asked if he had enough to defeat Kostecki.

"We got right to the back of him on that last lap. Around here it’s chess racing. We are conserving our tyres, trying to make the hundred k's .

“We were going all out there in the last five laps and managed to pull away from Broc, but yeah, just ran out of laps unfortunately.”

Battling illness, Kostecki felt the blowtorch being applied by Payne, saying: "Matty was breathing down my neck there towards the end."

Heading into Friday, Payne has a six point lead over Feeney, who led the balance of the 2025 season before losing out to Chaz Mostert in Adelaide. Cam Waters is 41 points in third, with Kostecki and Anton De Pasquale 67 and 93 points down respectively.

"I did think if I got in front of Broc, I’d steal the numbers off him,” Payne said.

“Pretty cool. First time for us as a team to run them. So I think everyone's gonna feel pretty special putting them on, but it's business as usual for us.”

Supercars action resumes in Melbourne with Race 5 at 5:30pm on Friday.