Round 9 delivers cruel ending at QR!

Penrite Racing has narrowly missed out on the Sprint Cup title with an engine issue costing Matt Payne the chance to claim the trophy in Sunday’s final race.

The weekend had previously gone almost as planned, with Payne also producing two epic back-to-back pole positions on Saturday. He was able to convert that strong form into a podium in the weekend’s opener to claim the first silverware of the weekend.

From there, back-to-back safety car periods in the second race cost the team a chance at a double podium, however the team did enough to bank a solid fourth (Allen) and sixth place (Payne).

Sunday’s qualifying begun strongly, with Allen putting his Penrite Mustang on provisional pole ahead of the Top 10 Shootout. The Shootout saw Allen ultimately claim third, while Payne would start the final race in 6th.

The race was calm until the late stages and all looked to be running smoothly before Payne was forced into the garage with an engine issue. Despite the gallant efforts of the crew, the car wouldn’t return to track and Payne’s Sprint Cup tilt was cruelly ended.

On the other side of the garage, Allen’s Sunday was strong with the 21-year-old banking solid points with a fourth-place finish.

Despite the heartbreak, Payne has now secured his place in finals having earned enough points to secure a start in the top 10 at Gold Coast, no matter the remaining results of the Enduro Cup.

The cars return to the track on Tuesday this week, with a test day with the team’s co-drivers at Queensland Raceway.

The next round, the first of the two Enduro Cup events, takes place at The Bend in South Australia on 11-13 September.

Brenton Grove – CEO Penrite Racing

It’s not fun. This is something we all put a lot of time and effort into and Matt’s done a faultless job. Our mechanical reliability is probably one of the best in the lane and unfortunately today something has gone wrong. We had no warning before it happened. We’ll lick our wounds and make sure we come back stronger.

Matt Payne – Driver #19 Ford Mustang

It just sucks, I felt like we did everything right today. It might not have been the easiest day behind the wheel but we had a good start and passed Chaz Mostert and were sitting in a nice window, just working together with Kai. Next thing the motor just sounded like it had an electrical issue. I’m really gutted. I was looking forward to wrapping up the Sprint Cup, but it is what it is.

Kai Allen – Driver #26 Ford Mustang

Ipswich done and dusted, obviously up and down weekend for the team. My side of things was quite strong, finished top five every race. We did lose a potential podium in the first race with a penalty, but we bounced back later in the weekend with first ever provisional pole, which is awesome.

Today was absolutely gut wrenching for for Matty. He had that Sprint Cup wrapped up and sometimes this motorsport doesn’t like you and doesn’t doesn’t pick you on the day, but for us we’ve just got to work even harder as a team and come back swinging. Now we regroup, and have a test day coming up, get (co-driver) Timmy (Slade) fast and ready to come out strong.