2024 Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight

Penrite Racing added to their 2024 trophy tally following another inspired strategy call to yield a second-place finish for Matt Payne in the Saturday leg of the Panasonic Air Conditioning Sydney SuperNight. 

Driver of the Number 19 Penrite Racing Mustang, Matt Payne, was able to consolidate his fifth-place position in the standings, while Richie Stanaway is just outside of the Top Ten, in 13th. 

As far as the Teams Championship is concerned, Penrite Racing were able to hold steady in fourth place, still in hot pursuit of Walkinshaw Andretti United and Tickford Racing. 

The major drawcard of the Sydney event was the Championship’s only bout of night racing for the season. Saturday’s race was run at prime time, with a 7:35PM start, whilst Sunday’s race was run in twilight conditions and ending under lights. 

The night-time running meant teams were in a holding pattern between set up on Thursday and the singular practice session on Friday evening. 

Friday’s 90-Minute practice session was hindered for the Penrite Racing Crew, as Matt Payne spent an elongated time in the garage following a propshaft issue. The Penrite Racing pair of Payne and Stanaway ended the session in 15th, and 17th respectively. 

Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session started off strongly for Penrite Racing, with both drivers occupying the Top Ten in the early running. As time elapsed however, Stanaway was unable to improve, ending the session in 21st. Payne did enough to hold onto position seven at the flag. 

Matt Payne’s Top Ten Shootout lap had all the makings of a strong starting position, registering a purple sector one, before an untimely downshift sent the number 19 Mustang into a spin, and curtailed any chance of a front-row start. Matt would start Race 15 in tenth. 

Saturday’s Race 15 was run entirely under lights, as Payne and Stanaway both made up positions early in the race. It was decided early on that Payne would commit to a one-stop strategy, having to last 28-laps on his second set of tyres. 

Once all pitstops had been completed, Payne found himself leading the race by 18-seconds, however, a fast-charging Chaz Mostert was closing rapidly on fresher tyres. 

The brave strategy call almost delivered Payne a second win in as many races, however Mostert’s pace was far superior, with Payne prioritising a second-place finish ahead of Thomas Randle over an unnecessary fight  with Mostert.  

Richie Stanaway finished the race in 16th. 

Sunday’s qualifying session was a game of inches, with track limits time exclusions coming to the fore and costing Payne a shot in the Top Ten Shootout. Payne would end the session in 11th, while Richie would finish in 24th. 

By virtue of a one-stop strategy the day before, car Number 19 had an extra set of tyres at their disposal. As was the case in Townsville, Payne charged through the field with ease to put him in contention for another trophy. 

Payne’s race was highlighted by an exceptional double overtake, dubbed ‘overtake of the year’ on commentary. Matt was the beneficiary as Nick Percat and Ryan Wood squabbled in front of him, taking advantage down the front straight to pull off an audacious three-wide move into turn one.  

“I think Woody and Percat were side-drafting each other, and it actually slowed them up so much on the straight that I just got so much momentum.” 

“It’s one of those things where you just see an opportunity and you just gun for it. I trusted Woody, I always knew it would be hard for him to get back to the apex being out so wide, and having to clear Nick especially.” 

“…I just carried in so much speed trying to clear Nick that I almost ended up spinning him, and then we would have had an airplane crash.” 

Richie Stanaway’s race was marred by a faulty brake locking mechanism, meaning his rear wheels were spinning during his final pitstop. Richie battled through and finished in 21st. 

Matt Payne was able to capitalise on fresher tyres to chase down those on the one-stop strategy he had found success with the day prior, passing Anton De Pasquale on the final lap to record his fourth top-four position in as many races. 

The Repco Supercars Championship will take a brief hiatus to accommodate the Olympics, with the next round set to take place in Tasmania, from August 16-18.