Kiwi star braced for ‘tough’ double-header to defend sought-after Supercars trophy

Matt Payne was completing the final lap of the final race of the 2025 Taupō 440, and the crowd was rising as one to cheer him on.

This wasn’t just a victory for one of New Zealand’s Supercars heroes. This was the realisation of a dream.

Taking the chequered flag secured Payne his second win of the weekend and, with it, the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.

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Named in honour of the Kiwi racing icon who lost his life in 2011, the trophy is one of the sport’s most sought-after pieces of in-season silverware, particularly for those competing under the New Zealand flag.

For Payne it was a dream come true — or just about.

“I probably only have one regret,” he tells Fox Sports. “That I didn’t do a bigger burnout.

“Achieving that was certainly the highlight I’ve had so far in motorsport. That was a big piece of memorabilia I really wanted to win.

“I’d seen so many of my heroes do it over the past few years, and seeing them hold the trophy is pretty special.”

Payne is the third Kiwi to win the trophy since its 2013 inception and the first since Shane van Gisbergen in 2022.

No driver has claimed the trophy in back-to-back seasons, though Van Gisbergen won the prize on either side of New Zealand’s pandemic absence from the calendar, in 2019 and 2022.

To be the first to do so looms as an enticing prospect for Payne, but in 2026 the challenge will be different, with the trophy to be contested over two rounds — in Taupō and Christchurch — for the first time.

“That would definitely be one of the highlights of my career, along with Bathurst,” he said.

“Certainly over the two rounds this year it’s going to be tough — combined points, so you’re going to have to be quick at both tracks.

“It’s going to be really cool — a really good initiative from Supercars to create the double-header program.

“Two back-to-back weekends of racing in my home country — I would never ever say no to it.

“I did like it with the one round In Taupō — it felt really special to just have the one opportunity to race in front of your home crowd and do them proud — but it’s going to be even better getting to showcase our sport to the South Island fans that potentially couldn’t have travelled up.

“We were we were really quick at Taupō, so going to a brand-new track for everyone is going to be difficult, but fingers crossed we can do well.”

Regardless of whether Payne or another home hero claims the silverware, the weekend is guaranteed to be a festival of New Zealand motorsport culture, with both islands now represented on the Supercars calendar.

It could also bring out some new Kiwi competitiveness between host venues as each vies to be the country’s premier Supercars round — this in a nation that already punches well above its weight in the motor racing landscape.

“The past two events [in Taupō] have been amazing, and then the facilities are only getting better as well, so that’s quite a tough one to beat,” Payne says.

“But it’s going to be cool seeing how Ruapuna develops over the next few years and seeing the kind of investment they’re putting into it to upgrade that track and upgrade the facilities.

“I think as well the fan base is a little bit different down there. Those people are really invested in their rugby and their sport down on the South Island. I know there’s a very strong community of car people down there, so for those who potentially can’t make it to Taupō can enjoy their own piece of Supercars in their backyard.”

The New Zealand double-header gets underway with Taupō as the first stop, ensuring Payne will start the Kiwi leg with some happy memories.

Triumph in the battle for the JR Memorial Trophy put the Aucklander into the championship top three for the first time last season, the precursor to a championship run that would end at the penultimate round of the campaign, where a contentious clash with Cam Waters put him out of contention under the first running of the Supercars finals format. Without the controversial knockout program, Payne would have finished a close second in the standings.

The year also featured his breakthrough Bathurst 1000 victory alongside Garth Tander, which was also his Grove team’s first triumph at the mountain.

He therefore started 2026 with some momentum. He completed the opening round in Sydney tied for the points lead with Broc Feeney and took top spot outright over the next two races in Melbourne, but a disastrous final two rounds of the weekend — a contentious DNF-inducing crash with James Golding and then a puncture that kicked him from third to 20th — dropped him to fourth in the standings.

But despite his 73-point deficit to new leader Brodie Kostecki, the signs of yet another step from the ambitious Grove team and its Kiwi spearhead are clear.

“Last year we saw consistency was a massive improvement for us, but along with that, you need to have good car speed, and I think we probably just faltered a couple of times when it came to quali pace,” he said.

“I think our race pace was always pretty strong, but we were just missing the mark to some of the front teams. It might have been one or two tenths, but it wasn’t much.

“The raw pace I think we need to work on a little bit to try and find that … consistency is obviously the first thing you need to get, and then to help improve that speed I think is the next step for us.”

Last year Grove was on average 0.454 seconds off the pace in qualifying. This season that margin has shrunk to just 0.226 seconds, putting it only fractionally behind Triple Eight and surprise early pace leader Blanchard Racing Team.

Payne is the season’s best qualifier, with an average qualifying result of 4.1 over seven weekends. Were it not for his Sunday puncture in Melbourne, he’d have finished just once off the podium — and that singular outlier would have been a fourth place.

Last year’s trip to New Zealand was the highlight of Payne’s career. If he continues on his trajectory, this year it might be the start of something significant.