Penrite Racing duo advances to Sandown semi-finals with strong Surfers Paradise weekend
Matt Payne and Kai Allen have both progressed to the Sandown semi-final in three weeks after a strong set of results across an entertaining weekend of Supercars racing at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast.
Just two weeks after tasting the ultimate prize at the Repco Bathurst 1000, the Penrite Racing duo did enough to keep their championship dreams alive, despite the high-level of carnage that the street track produced.
Bathurst champ Matt Payne finished the two races 10th and 4th, while rookie team-mate put in one of the most impressive drivers of the weekend, finishing 3rd and 6th, enough to bank enough points to stay in the hunt for the crown.
The opening race on Saturday was riddled with carnage, and both Payne and Allen were involved in incidents that threatened their chances.
Payne was caught in a pitlane melee that saw him cop a 15 second penalty after an unsafe release. This saw him drop to the back of the field, but he steadily worked his way through the pack, coming home 10th.
Allen scored his fifth podium for the year in a race that could have seen him dip out of finals contention early.
The 20-year-old was involved in an early clash with Will Brown, before being hampered by the pitlane pile-up where he was forced to double stack behind team-mate Payne, losing many positions.
Penrite Racing switched Allen’s strategy to take his second stop early, and with safety cars and other incidents working in his favour, Allen vaulted to second place – a team call that proved game changing.
With aging tyres, title leader Broc Feeney managed to pass Allen in the closing stages, but the third place result for the Penrite kid was a masterstroke, both from Allen and the team.
Sunday’s final 250km race was run with the threat of rain that never came. The race also only had one late safety car period, effectively making it a straight forward fight for the finals’ spots.
Matt Payne produced the pass of the race with a bold pass on Cameron Waters. The Kiwi eventually finished fourth and will head to Sandown third in the title, 54 points behind Feeney.
Allen endured mid-race battle with Anton De Pasquale that saw Allen lose his side sill through the beach chicane. He also survived a big fight with Thomas Randle with 10 laps to go, but his sixth place finish was enough to secure sixth place in the championship, ensuring his series hopes remain.
The penultimate round of the Repco Supercars Championship is the Penrite Sandown 500 on November 14-16.
- Race schedule
Race
results
-
Race 28
Repco Supercars ChampionshipP10 Matt Payne1:54:11.916P3 Kai Allen1:53:37.743 -
Race 29
Repco Supercars ChampionshipP4 Matt Payne1:43:42.073P6 Kai Allen1:43:43.724
- Circuit stats
The circuit
The Gold Coast 500 is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship—and its previous iteration, the V8 Supercars Championship—since 2010.
Races
2
Circuit Length
2.96km
Race Distance
500km
Top Speed
265km/h
Driver
commentary
Kai Allen
Driver profile“It was good that we got in Sunday’s shootout and getting a podium in my first race was really cool,” said Allen.
“The car felt really speedy and we were able to make some cool moves there at the end, but we had to get into the next round of finals, which is what we did and we’re sixth in the championship.
“Saturday was quite easy compared to Sunday. Sunday’s race was absolutely brutal and it was seriously hot. The sun was out and the intensity was up, so I’m pretty buggered. The level of intensity, the speed and the moments that we’re having your heart rates up the whole time and the heat in the car was brutal. So we’ll recover well tonight, get ready for Sandown and have a crack.
“I didn’t really have a goal coming into this round so to get sixth from the championship now is really cool in my first year, I’m absolutely pumped and looking to going forward from now. We will see what happens going to be very hard to get to the four for Adelaide.
“All in all, I’m excited to get to a Sandown local track for the Penrite Racing team and to get a good result.”