Matt Payne retains Championship lead after Gold Coast

Matt Payne has advanced to the penultimate Finals round at Sandown with his Championship lead intact after a strong weekend on the streets of the Gold Coast.A third-place finish in Saturday’s opening race was just reward for the Penrite Racing #19 Ford Mustang pilot, who produced a strong performance in difficult conditions in the first of the weekend’s two 250km races.

Payne backed it up with a solid Sunday, recovering from 12th on the grid to finish sixth after a challenging qualifying session that morning.On the other side of the Penrite Racing garage, Kai Allen’s Finals campaign came to an unfortunate end at the iconic Gold Coast event. A control part failure in Saturday’s opening race left him at the rear of the field, effectively ruining his weekend and leaving him needing a race win to guarantee progression to the next Finals event.

Sunday didn’t start well for Allen either, with the 21-year-old unable to find pace in qualifying in his #26 Penrite Ford Mustang and lining up 22nd. Despite the disappointing grid position, Allen showed brilliant pace in the 85-lap race, carving through the field to gain nine places and finish 13th.

The weather played havoc all weekend, with plenty of wet and dry running across all three days. The team still holds the lead in both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships heading to Sandown.

Pretty in pink for a cause

In front of a large and dedicated crowd, the Penrite Mustangs looked ‘pretty in pink’, with pink trim on the cars and driver apparel in support of Snap-on’s Socket To Breast Cancer campaign.

Quotes

Brenton Grove – CEO Penrite Racing

Mixed conditions here on the Gold Coast. It wasn’t quite the weekend we were after, but we still hold both Championship leads. Kai wasn’t able to make it through, but he’s ready to support Matty and the team for the rest of the year as we try to win both Championships.

Matt Payne – Driver #19 Ford Mustang

Overall a pretty solid weekend for us. Great to get my first surfboard (podium) here on the Gold Coast – that was an awesome day on Saturday. Unfortunately on Sunday we just didn’t quite get it right for qualifying and struggled with the wet. We had a great recovery back to sixth on a track that’s hard to pass, so credit to the guys – we had an awesome strategy. Really looking forward to Sandown with the Championship lead, and hopefully we can be strong there.

Kai Allen – Driver #26 Ford Mustang

Gutted is an understatement, had such a good year up to this round, and to walk away with a couple of mechanical failures over the last two races really hurt us. Obviously not much you can really do, unfortunately. Heartbroken now, but I know the crew put their best foot forward. Now the attention turns to Matty and the Teams’ Championship, so we’ll all work even harder to make sure that we’re ready to go for Sandown.