Payne reflects on when a podium almost slipped away

Impressive Kiwi Matt Payne emerged from some mighty battles to secure a second career podium but he almost threw it away.

After starving off the likes of Chaz Mostert, Anton De Pasquale and Nick Percat amid the early race jostling for position, Payne held down third from lap 6.

The 21-year-old appeared to be cruising until suddenly the #19 Mustang was in the grass.

Payne bowled a wide at the penultimate corner of the race, which provided a massive heart in mouth moment for both driver and team.

It gifted Percat third place, but fortunately for Penrite Racing, the #10 MSR Camaro had a 5s penalty for sending Mostert off at the same corner.

As a result, Payne was reinstated a second career podium following his victory on the streets of Adelaide last year.

When recalling the moment, the Kiwi admitted his shock behind the wheel.

“At the end I don’t really know what happened,” Payne said. 

“I was just driving, came into turn 13, grabbed the front and then grabbed both pedals. 

“I was not even managing it and it was like my foot slipped off the brake and I ended up in the grass.

“I was thinking ‘oh my god, this is going to be really bad and I have made a fool myself.’

“But I knew Nick had the penalty so was not too stressed if he passed me or not. Luckily we kept it but still a bit disappointed I didn’t finish third outright.”

The small mistake aside, the podium continues the good form of both Payne and Penrite Racing.

Boosted by his success in the Adelaide finale, Payne has finished in the top 10 in all three races of 2024 and sits a strong fourth in the championship.

“It is very nice to be back on the podium,” Payne said.

“It is great to have good speed in our car and run a relatively clean race and get good points. We had great speed in qualifying which set us up.

“But we still need to find a little bit of speed to catch these guys.”

Payne will start race 4 from fifth position.

Image by Rebecca Hind/Revved Photography

Supercars Australian Grand Prix schedule

Thursday, March 21

Practice 1: 1: M. Jones 2: M. Payne 3: C. Waters

Practice 2: 1 B. Feeney 2: C. Waters 3: A. De Pasquale

Qualifying R3 Qualifying R4 Poles B. Feeney, C. Waters

Race 3: 1: B. Feeney 2: W. Brown 3: M. Payne

Friday, March 22

Race 4 (20 laps): 14.50-15.35

Saturday, March 23

Qualifying R5: 09.00-09.15

Qualifying R6: 09.25-09.40

Race 5 (14 laps): 17.35-18.10

Sunday, March 24

Race 6 (14 laps): 10.20-10.55

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