Payne flies to special Kiwi pole

Matt Payne has kept the Kiwis cheering by squeezing ahead of his rivals in a tight Top 10 Shootout for Race 8 at Taupo.

The first dry one-lap dash around the twisty 3.32km layout produced a nail-biter with 0.09s covering the top four.

But to the delight of the home crowd, Payne emerged on top with a 1:26.8173, just enough to edge out Broc Feeney.

Reigning champion Brodie Kostecki showed he is back by putting the #1 Erebus Camaro in third, while the two Walkinshaw Andretti United Mustangs lost ground after messy laps.

After Andre Heimgartner’s stunning Saturday win, Payne has put himself in pole position for producing another home race success.

It was the Grove Racing youngster’s second career pole but first in a Top 10 Shootout and could not be at a better location.

Payne joins Greg Murphy, Steven Richards, Fabian Coulthard, Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen as Kiwis to take poles on home soil.

P7 Thomas Randle 1:27.3073

The Tickford driver just missed Saturday’s Shootout but was the first to take on the one-lap dash on Sunday.

Clean first lap but did lose the tail ever so slightly coming out of turn 8 while he just got it stopped at the hairpin. Impressively went a tenth faster than his qualifying lap.

“It was a bit more slippery than I was expecting,” Randle said.

“Pretty much matched by quali time until the last sector and went a little bit hot at turn 12.”

P6 Jack Le Brocq 1:27.2891

Le Brocq was down 0.018s at the first split but bounced back with a strong second sector to be up on the Tickford driver.

Controlled oversteer at Turn 11 and was able to sneak ahead of Randle by 0.018s.

“It was not too bad,” Le Brocq thought.

“Struggled to get it rotated up at turn 11 which hurt by drive out of there.”

P3 Brodie Kostecki 1:26.8479

The reigning champion was back in the spotlight in the Shootout in the #1 and showed why he was the one-lap king of 2023 by going purple in the first sector.

A mighty final sector sent Kostecki into the 1m26s window, the first to do so being four tenths clear of his teammate.

Despite making up so much time in the final part of the lap, Kostecki still believed he “made a little mistake in the last sector.”

P8 Tim Slade 1:27.3595

Bounced back from yesterday’s misfortune to be back in the shootout and was not afraid to use the kerbs in the first sector.

Was a tenth away from Kostecki at midway but lost a lot of time in the final part of the lap to be fourth and slowest.

“It didn’t feel too bad but expected more from the lap time. It is what it is,” Slade said.

P2 Broc Feeney 1:26.8299

Feeney started brilliantly, edging out Kostecki by 0.009s at the first split after using a lot of the Turn 4 kerb.

Danced the #88 Camaro nicely around the remainder circuit as it opened up to sneak ahead of Kostecki by 0.018s and ultimately secure a front row starting spot.

“On my delta I thought I wasn’t going to get there and just sent it in at the end of the lap. I am pumped to be here,” Feeney said.

P10 Ryan Wood 1:28.5651

Went deep into turn 1 but trail braked nicely as the kiwi was very aggressive through the first sector and lost three tenths to Feeney.

Wood was chasing his Mustang across the entire lap until it became a bit too much at the final chicane.

Ran a bit wide coming out of the penultimate corner which sent him off to the grass on entry to the final corner.

As a result he was 1.2s off the pace of the next slowest car Slade.

“Tough lap, obviously first shootout in the dry,” Wood said.

P1 Matt Payne 1:26.8173

Started well and was pretty close to Feeney across the first part of the lap before firing a purple second sector.

Went up high at turn 11 and it proved to be a masterstroke as he flew across the final sector and snatched the lead from Feeney by just 0.0126s.

“It was not too bad,” Payne said.

“A little bit scrappy at the start but the last sector was not too bad so pretty happy.”

P5 Will Brown 1:26.9602

Just got it stopped at Turn 5 and more or less matched Payne being just 0.009s off a the first split.

But Brown could not quite nail the final sector and settled in fourth, a tenth off Payne, Feeney and Kostecki.

“Probably didn’t get out of turn 11 as nice as I wanted to so lost a little bit of time there,” he said.

P9 Chaz Mostert 1:27.5364

Had a big slide out of turn 4 and was a tenth down at first sector.

Also used a lot of kerb on the exit of Turn 9 and was already half a second back as he came onto the main straight.

Could only manage the eighth fastest lap, seven tenths away from Payne and only ahead of Wood.

Mostert was a frustrated figure slipping from second to ninth on the grid.

“There was a lot going on there,” he said.

“Pretty big handful and could not switch the tyre on.”

P4 Anton De Pasquale 1:26.9106

Ran a touch high at turn 1 and used all the space exiting Turn 4, kissing the dirt.

Despite the moment he was still in touch and squeezed into fourth, not far off from the rest.

De Pasquale admitted he struggled to get it completely hooked up.

“It was pretty fun and super difficult to get the thing going for the first lap so had a few moments,” De Pasquale said.

TaupoSuper400 Race 8 Top 10 Shootout results

Image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography

Taupo Super400 schedule (all times AEST)

Friday, April 19

Practice: 1: C. Mostert 1:26.4937 2: M. Payne +0.0318 3: W. Davison +0.0508

Saturday, April 20

Qualifying Race 7: 1: M. Payne 1:27.9684 2: A. De Pasquale +0.0940 3: C. Mostert +0.1669

Top 10 Shootout: 1: C. Waters 1:34.7415 2: W. Brown +0.5011 3: A. Heimgartner +0.5374

Race 7 (60 laps): 1: A. Heimgartner 2: W. Davison +1.1012 3: A. De Pasquale +2.5641

Sunday, April 21

Qualifying Race 8: 1: A. De Pasquale 2: C. Mostert +0.0272 3: W. Brown +0.0292 

Top 10 Shootout: 10.25

Race 7 (60 laps): 13.05

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