Penrite Racing leaves Townsville with double Championship lead

Matthew Payne now sits on top of the Supercars Drivers’ Championship after a strong and consistent weekend in Townsville, with Penrite Racing also increasing its lead in the all-important Teams’ Championship.

The streets of Townsville put on a show as the Supercars Championship returned to action under sunny Queensland skies.

Payne’s strong showing including three podiums from three races, with a third place on Friday, a second place on Sunday and a dominant race win on Saturday. Payne also took on the orange numbers denoting the Championship lead after Friday’s race and further increased that lead in the remaining two races. He now leads the outright standings by 92 points.

Teammate Kai Allen had plenty of pace across all three days, with top 10 finishes on Friday (4th) and Sunday (7th), and a 12th place on Saturday. Allen now sits fifth in Drivers’ Championship – well and truly in a strong position with two more rounds of the Sprint Cup remaining.

Both Penrite Mustangs were strong across qualifying all weekend, with both Allen and Payne featuring in both Top 10 Shootouts on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s race win for Payne was also particularly dominant, the #19 crossing the finish line more than 15 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

Penrite Racing extended its lead in the teams’ standings, sitting 132 points clear of the next best placed outfit.

The focus now turns to Western Australia as the Supercars Championship heads to Wanneroo Raceway on 31 July – with plenty more points on offer and a motivated Penrite Racing crew eager to impress.

Matt Payne – Driver #19 Ford Mustang
“Three podiums for us and three different places here in Townsville, so we got the full range of the belt (trophy) lineup, which was cool, so an awesome weekend.

“Taking the Championship lead and extending that throughout the weekend was very rewarding and we couldn’t really ask for much more. The entire team did a great job all weekend on the strategy, and I know on Sunday I didn’t make it easy for them with the start I had, so that’s on me, but they did a great job of maximising what we needed to do to move through the pack.

“We’re trying our best and I feel like our consistency is really keeping us in the game.

“Our goal is to try and win the Sprint Cup because obviously that’s an automatic entry into the Supercars Finals, so that’s our focus at the moment. We’re in a great position and we’ve worked really hard to get to this position, so I think everyone should be really proud of achieving what we have so far, but the next two tracks (Perth and Queensland Raceway) are tough, so we’re going to have to work pretty hard to make sure that we roll out strong and keep fighting for wins.”

Kai Allen – Driver #26 Ford Mustang
“A bit of a weird weekend in Townsville. We had a good Friday, got 4th and then Saturday was a really big struggle for our side of the garage.

“Saturday’s qualifying was difficult and then in the race we had a few issues and ultimately didn’t get a good result coming home in 12th.

“It was good for us to bounce back on Sunday where I had a really, strong Top 10 Shootout lap. The Penrite Racing crew did a really good job getting the car back to where we needed it. In the race we were looking strong, had great pace with a different strategy, but just didn’t have a good second pit stop, which hurt us a little bit, but still earned some good points – but that happens and the crew will bounce back as well.

“I’m really looking forward to coming back swinging at Perth and having a really strong fight for the rest of the Sprint Cup into the Supercars Finals.”

Brenton Grove, CEO, Grove
“It’s certainly nice to be leading the two championships after a strong weekend at Townsville but we know there’s plenty more work to come for the whole team.

“We saw on Sunday that we didn’t quite execute in the final pit stop again for Kai and it’s something that is costing us a little bit at the moment. So, for sure, when we get everything right and we have a result like we did on Saturday with Matt, it’s certainly very pleasing. But we know the competition is so strong that you need to maximise at every opportunity.

“While leading both Championships is a good place to be, we’re certainly not 100 per cent happy with how we will perform this weekend and we’ve got some work to do to try and fix up those errors.”