Points leader Matt Payne relegated to garage in Finals twist
Championship leader logs just six laps in final Gold Coast practice
Payne the only driver to reach all 12 Shootouts this season
Championship leader Matt Payne heads into all-important Boost Mobile Qualifying short of laps after car issues in Practice 2.
Amid issues, Payne’s #19 Penrite Racing Ford logged just six laps of the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in final Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 practice.
Payne lost power steering early in the session, and ended up 14th as his rivals — including closest points rival Broc Feeney, who was fastest — got qualifying simulations in.
While he has a set of dry tyres up his sleeve for qualifying — which could yet be impacted by weather — Payne didn’t get an opportunity to join his rivals on track.
A qualifying slump would dent Payne’s chances of retaining top spot, and would also go against the grain of his season. The New Zealander has seven Boost Mobile Poles — level with Brodie Kostecki — 23 top fives, and is the only driver to make all 12 Top Ten Shootouts.
In fact, Payne's run of Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootouts extends beyond a full calendar year, having last missed a Shootout at the 2025 Repco Bathurst 1000.
“Everything was going pretty good for that first run, car seemed to be in a pretty good window,” Payne said post-session.
“Just went out for the second run, looks like the drive belt on the motor, the bearing’s failed. So yeah, had no power steering and motor started to get real hot.
“Boys tried getting that fixed to get out there for the last run, but unfortunately it was probably three or four minutes too late.
“But it’s all good, we saved a set of tyres, which is good, but I think we're still in a pretty good window for qualifying.”
Boost Mobile Qualifying rounds out Friday's action at 4:05pm local time/5:05pm AEDT.
