2025 Century Batteries Ipswich Super 440

Penrite Racing has produced a solid weekend out at Queensland Raceway in Supercars’ first event at Ipswich since 2019, with Matt Payne and Kai Allen both leaving the event with valuable championship points.

With three races making up the schedule amid challenging weather conditions, it was Allen who led the way for the majority of the weekend, securing two podiums and edging closer to the top 10.

Despite having a slow start to the weekend on Friday with 24th in Practice 1, Allen responded instantly by breaking into the top 10 in the afternoon which set up a strong run for Saturday morning’s qualifying session.

Qualifying for Race 23 inside the top 10 with 8th overall, Allen made an electrifying start off the line when the race got underway, gaining four positions by the time cars hit lap two before climbing a further two thanks to a swooping double move to slot into second.

From then on, Allen enjoyed a mature drive and completed his pit stop without issues, eventually crossing the line in second place as the race finished under safety car.

The weekend’s second race was far less spectacular for the 20-year-old as he finished three places lower than when he started in 20th overall, having been spun in a chaotic opening lap that saw a number of cars taken out.

Sunday’s final race was looking far from ideal for Allen after he qualified in 22nd, however the decision to pit later than the rest of the field paid massive dividends as a safety car intervention midway through the race allowed Penrite Racing to complete two consecutive stops with little time loss.

Although Allen lost the temporary lead during that second stop and fell to third shortly after, the young gun was able to hold on to third place and, with the most positions gained across the 63-lap race, the race-high 19 position rise helped him end the weekend in 11th in the standings.

Payne also benefited greatly from Sunday’s mid-race carnage as some quick pitstops helped the New Zealander finish in 4th place — a result that looked well out of reach before the safety car period.

Despite starting strong and making a spot up early, Payne had lost a handful of positions by lap two and had fallen well outside the top 10 with a mountain of work to do, however an early pit stop helped him back up the order before gaining even more ground on the leaders during the mid-race chaos.

Payne eventually found himself in the battle for the top five after muscling his way up the order before a penalty post-race to Chaz Mostert promoted Payne to 4th — the result proving his best for the weekend.

In Saturday’s first race, Payne again found himself on the rise as he qualified in 18th, but a handful of gains on the opening two laps set him up for a decent result, where he eventually crossed the line in 12th.

Payne’s upwards trend continued in the weekend’s second race as he again finished higher than where he started. Having just missed out on qualifying inside the top 10, Payne was squeezed off the line but thankfully avoided all the drama that occurred around him.

A solid strategy from the team once again helped Payne up the order as he managed to finish in 6th place overall.

The strong Sunday results saw Payne finish the weekend just eight points off Will Brown in second place, while Allen’s double podium saw him move to 11th place and just 20 points off the top 10.