Matt Payne claims Toyota will be “harder to beat” at Bathurst
GR Supra raced to 1-3 result at first ever Supercars enduro at The Bend
A Toyota Supercar completed evaluation at Bathurst in February
Penrite Racing Ford stars Matt Payne and Kai Allen are wary of how the Toyota GR Supra will turn up at Bathurst following a beatdown at The Bend.
The Supra flew to victory in its Supercars enduro debut at The Bend, with Chaz Mostert and Fabian Coulthard cruising home by nearly 20 seconds.
The result put the entire field on notice, given it was the Supra’s first Supercars race distance over 200km. Not only was the car reliable, it was fast, with Mostert untouchable.
While Ford has won 23 of 29 races this season, across six different drivers and four different teams, the threat of the Supra is now ever present heading to the Mountain.
Amid a myriad of parity changes over the years, the Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro are somewhat known quantities at Mount Panorama. The Toyota, though, is almost a complete unknown, save for evaluations at February's Bathurst 12 Hour alongside a Mustang and a Camaro.
Payne cited recent engine reliability works on the Toyota motor as being key to the Supra’s Bathurst chances.
“I think everyone's probably been glad they're having the reliability issues, because they know that they're gonna be strong, and that's been holding them back all the way up until this point,” championship leader Payne told Supercars.com.
“Having the engine update and the reliability fix was a huge, massive win for those guys. That takes away a lot of their problems, now they've got a fast car that's gonna last the whole race, and they've got a real chance of winning the whole thing.
“Could you imagine Toyotas coming in first year in the sport winning Bathurst? That'd be something to put in the Bible. They're definitely a dark horse when it comes to the enduros.
"You can talk about the Fords and the Chevs as much as you want, but the red Toyota is gonna be just as quick, if not harder to beat.”
Where Mostert was cautious, Coulthard was firm, telling media after winning The Bend, "I don't see why it can’t," when asked if the Toyota can win on debut. Fans also believe the Mostert/Coulthard car is the one to beat.
Payne’s teammate Allen was more circumspect, and cited how Ryan Wood fell away from him in the run home at The Bend.
"I don't get too caught up in that," Allen told Supercars.com.
"I know Chaz was fast, but Woody wasn't. He fell back a long way compared to us. So Chaz was the benchmark at The Bend, which was really good to see the Toyota have a strong result, they've been going through a fair bit lately with their reliability and that, so yeah, good to them.
"But still they're a competitor, so we need to beat them. I think with our package, we're in a good spot. Obviously you don't know until you rock up. A lot of work's been done this year, and it's been so impressive to see how close the Toyota's got to us and to the Chev as well."
Track action at Mount Panorama commences on Thursday October 8.
