Why 2025 is blueprint to Payne rebound after ‘gutting’ AGP

Matt Payne heads to New Zealand as the reigning Jason Richards Trophy winner, and with a sizeable deficit to points leader Brodie Kostecki.

After falling short in the two Melbourne races, Payne led the points. It wasn’t meant to end the way it did.

A clash with James Golding in Race 6 and a mystery puncture in Race 7 cost Payne a swag of points, sending him to New Zealand in arrears, just as he was 12 months ago.

Therein lies the win for Payne: he headed to New Zealand 149 points from the lead last year, dominated at Taupō, and left his native country just 46 points down.

While rival teams have all shown strength across Sydney and Melbourne this year, the blueprint for Payne is there to bounce back immediately in Taupō, where he claimed two poles and two wins across the last two visits to the North Island circuit.

While still a small sample size, Payne has the best Supercars race average finish in Taupō (4.6), ahead of Andre Heimgartner (5.8), Will Brown (6.0) and Ryan Wood (7.6).

In contrast, those ahead in the championship are worse off: Brodie Kostecki (9.2), Cam Waters (9.0) and Broc Feeney (10.0).

Similar results in Taupō would almost certainly propel Payne back to the top, which would be great reward after a devastating end to his Melbourne campaign.

“It was a bit of a mixed bag,” Payne said in a team release.

“We started really strong – two podiums across the two days and a pole in qualifying, so it felt like we were off to a flying start. Unfortunately it went a bit downhill from there.

“The car had great pace all weekend, we just couldn’t quite convert it when it mattered. I got squeezed into an incident in Saturday’s race which took us out of contention, and then on Sunday I picked up a random puncture while running third, which was really disappointing.

“Absolutely gutted with how it finished, but there are plenty of positives to take away and some good points on the board. Now the focus shifts to the New Zealand rounds.”

Grove Racing CEO Brenton Grove said that despite the bad luck, having fast cars will keep the Penrite Fords at the top end of town.

"Another promising weekend with incredible pace. I’m really proud of the work the entire team put in during the lead up to the event. We were able to show how fast our cars are with a pole and a couple of podiums," Grove said.

“It’s a shame we weren’t able to capitalise with more trophies, however the outlook is strong for the season and if we can continue to deliver fast cars we’ll continue to be at the pointy end of the field.”

Supercars' inaugural ITM New Zealand Double Header begins at Taupō from April 10-12. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Supercars Taupō race average

2024-2026 drivers only