June 4, 2025 • 10 mins
Kiwi Supercars driver Matt Payne has had a dream start to the season.
He’s been racing under Grove and Penrite, and has already racked up three wins for the season.
It’s had fans and former drivers raving about his prospects as a future champion and considering he’s currently sitting third on the overall ladder, he’ll be hoping it’s the very near future.
Two of his wins so far came in the same weekend, on the home track at Taupo.
“I think that was a pretty special weekend for, for all of us,” Payne told Hosking.
“Y’know, two wins in one weekend is pretty cool, and I think for me, winning at home, especially in front of the New Zealand crowd, it couldn’t have been any better.”
His other win came in Tasmania, Payne moving from his starting position in 10th to claim the victory.
“That was a pretty special race,” he said.
“Just how everything played out, as the tyres were going away, and just how close it was at the end... it definitely stayed with me for a while.”
“Pretty awesome race.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Super Cars are back this weekend of Perth, which is
a bit of a time frame Hassel really, but then
Australia is a very big country. Matt Pain since we
last talked, has been having the time of his life
Number nineteen Mustang one one of the best races of
the season the other weekend in Tasmania. He currently sits
third in the standings and he's back with us from Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Matt morning, Yeah, good morning to you as well.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Right, Oh, let's play a game. The game is what's
your favorite victory? Was it Taerpo or was it the
other weekend in Tasmania?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good line to start off with, I suppose, but for me,
you definitely have to be Taupo. I think that was
a pretty special weekend for all of us. You know,
two wins in one week in is pretty cool and
I think for me winning at home, especially in front
of the New Zealand crowd, it couldn't have been any better.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And of course since we last talked the announcements have
been made. It's going to be Tarpeau and christ dur
So twice a year for the next handful of years. Anyway,
as a local, you've got to be thrilled.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh, it's absolutely insane. It's going to be really good
to get around down and have the sort of South
Island crowd around us, And I think I think they're
going to do a pretty good job dressing the track up.
I think it's going to be I think it's going
to be a really good weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, as regards Tasmania and that last race that you won,
how long does that, you know, stay with you, the excitement,
the thrill of what unfolded, or you know, by Monday,
have you moved on?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Oh? No, that was a pretty special race, like just
how everything played out as the tires were going away,
and just how close it was at the end. It Yeah,
definitely stayed with me for a while. I think there
was still a fear bit of analyzing to do over
the weekend as a whole, just in terms of our speed.
But yeah, it was a pretty it was a pretty
awesome race. I think it's definitely one of the most
(01:42):
fun races I've ever had, as tough as it was,
but it was It was pretty cool to women in
that way. And yeah, I didn't think I was gonna
I was going to when I was waking up that
morning I didn't think I was going to be leaving
the track for a win, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So talk to me about your confidence and how about
building third year into this. You're in a good team,
you've got some good people around you, and you seem
to be growing into this and things seem to be
going very well.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, definitely. You know, this year is definitely the best
start we've had over my three years and the category
so's it's been really good in terms of that, especially
after after four rounds we're sitting third in the championship,
which is the highest I've ever been. So that's been
a really good sort of start for us to carry
(02:28):
through some really good momentum for the rest of the season.
But there's still a lot of work to do, Like
there's still some tracks coming up where we haven't particular,
so there's a lot of work to that codes into that,
especially the next two rounds probably are still I think
Tasmania was definitely the weakest track we had from last year,
(02:48):
but Darwin and Perth we still weren't when as splash
as we needed to be, So I think I think, yeah,
there's still a lot of hard work to come, but
as far as having a good start for the year.
It's been really good.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
A couple of key words there, Darwin and Perth always
reminds me just how big Australia is. I mean, just
getting everything you talk about coming to New Zealand, but
I mean what about getting from Melbourne to Perth and
Melbourne to Darwin. I mean, you've got the trucks in
the coming. That's gargentuan, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, it's a big old place. There's a lot of
there's a lot of space to be filled up and
it's actually a pretty tight turnaround for us in between
Perth and oh and I think it's only a weekend
in between, so boys are going to be working pretty
hard to get the cars back. I think it takes
takes a few days to drive back from Perth and
(03:37):
then even even a few days to drive up straight
up to Darwin. It's basically a straight line up there.
But lucky we've got a truck driver here absolutely loves driving,
so he doesn't mind.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well, that's goodwill be thirteen past eight, Matt pains with
us out of supercars now. Now what I've been meaning
to talk to you about as what I've observed so far.
So you have a third year into this. You're good
at qualifying, right, so you've got what they say good
quali speed, so you're fast around a single lap. And
now it appears to me what you're building into is
they've got, you know, what they call good race speed.
(04:07):
So are those two different things? Does one follow the
other or are they like separate skills?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, so it's qualifying speed I will always feel like
I've had from the start, and that's something you know,
you can definitely grow up with naturally in your career.
But my race race speed and race craft probably weren't
as good as they could have been right when I
sort of burst into the category a couple of years ago.
(04:36):
So for me, the biggest thing we've all improved on
as a team is definitely our race speed. I think
our race car is probably one of the strongest in
the field, especially looking after its ties, so and essentially
is that is the aim of our game. So that's
definitely been a huge win for us. But in terms
(04:57):
of getting that race speed out of the car, I
think it has heard our qualifying performance a little bit,
so we still need to work on that. Our quality
car just doesn't seem to have the last little bit
to get out of it. So that's something we're working on.
But yeah, for sure, the race speed is probably the
most important. I think, you know, you can go from
(05:20):
having a sort of average quality and if you're bank
on having a quick car, you can easily make up time,
especially with strategy and things like that. So it's important.
But the qualifying some tracks you need to you need
to qualify well, so it's tough to sort of trade
off both for both really and how.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Much feedback do you as a driver give an engineer
or a team on that sort of thing that you
know that you get from the track as opposed to
what they call telemetry.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Oh no, it's huge, Like we're constantly talking about balance
of the car, especially in the breakfe session. That's basically
that's basically all we're trying to turn. And whether it's
whether it's race car or a quality car, it can change.
But that's certainly the driver feedback is certainly almost priority
in terms of over all the senses and data that
(06:08):
the guys get from the car. So that's big for us.
And even even during the racing, like as I'm out
on the track, we're still talking about it and using
the different tools to try and sort of get the
car a little bit more in the window. Ifort isn't.
It's pretty hard to do because there's not really much
we can do. But even talking about your Willston and
(06:31):
all the things like that, just trying to keep everything
covered off to make sure you're getting the most out
of it.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Now, Now, what about that how malleable is the car
because a lot of us are fascinated at the moment
with Liam and f one of course, I mean, and
what you learn an if one is you can tell
before you even get to a weekend. They know before
you get to a weekend on the track and what
you're going to be able to do and how good
your competitive you're going to be. How similar in supercows
is that?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh, it's definitely similar, Like we know coming into a
weekend what what will and will work and what probably
won't that's done and a lot of the pre event
stuff before the race weekend. But also it's for us
we can't actually change too much of the car like
when we're out in the race. So mainly it's there's
(07:18):
there's there's probably a hundred different components you can change
in the car itself in terms of set up, so
it can get very sophisticated very quickly. But we all
have a we all have a base setup of sort
of where we feel comfortable with our car, and they
will change that according to sort of the track geometry
and and how the corners, what the radiuses are and
(07:40):
things like that, so it's always evolving, but essentially we
just sort of have that baseline where we work around
that each track we go to.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And given that, then how bullish are you for the
rest of the season, I mean, how do you how
do you feel your tracking?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well? For me, I think like I, like I said before,
it's these next two rounds are really going to sort
of shape our championship. I think if we can really
improve on these two and you know, still banks some
really solid points, you know, I think I think we're
going to be looking really good. We haven't been to
Queens and Raceway before, only just doing some ride days there,
(08:16):
so that'll be another one to sort of put on
the cards. I think I think that track should probably
suit us as well. So I know that a lot
of the tracks coming up at the end of the
year we're pretty strong at so I think it's I
think it's looking good. There's definitely been there's definitely been
a couple of rounds this year we're probably didn't think
we were going to score as many points as we did,
(08:37):
so I think it's looking pretty positive. And and from
the start of the year to where we are now,
I think there's no doubt about it that we've we've
improved our car quite a bit, so that's definitely definitely
helped us as well. But it's going to be it's
going to be the next two rounds which really sort
of show how we're going and what do you do?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I mean this gap between the races, I mean, what
do you do? Do you you behind a wheel you
and assume you're going to track days and you're keeping
up a rhythm or do you just sit and wait?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, basically it's it's pretty there's there's quite a few
big gaps this year. So I mainly just you know,
do a lot of simulator training every day and trying
to get into the workshop and sort of see what
the boys are up to and have a few meetings
and stuff. We do have quite a bit of quite
a few appearances and that just for responses throughout in
(09:28):
between the rounds and just making sure everyone's happy. And yeah,
it's not too bad, but there there there are some
quite tight turned rounds this year as well, so it's
more challenging for the guys to get the cards ready.
Then for us we sort of just get back and
reset and then go again.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And what about all this mata? I mean, is this
as good as it gets you living the dream?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, I'd say it's pretty close to that. Certainly, when
you when you when you when you know you got speed,
it's certainly better. And when you're when you're winning, it's
it's obviously the best. When you're not going so well,
it is tough. You know, people looking and see that
you know, oh you're driving race cars, it must be awesome,
But it still can be as hard as any job
(10:11):
out there when the pressure is on and you know
you need to deliver a result, so it can be tough.
But certainly now I've feel like I'm settled in in
a pretty good place and with how the car is
tracking and that it seems pretty positive for the rest
of the year.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, we're enjoying watching it as always good to catch
up with you go well on Perth beauty.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
There we go. Matt Payne out of Melbourne this morning.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Super Cars are back this weekend of Perth, which is
a bit of a time frame Hassel really, but then
Australia is a very big country. Matt Pain since we
last talked, has been having the time of his life
Number nineteen Mustang one one of the best races of
the season the other weekend in Tasmania. He currently sits
third in the standings and he's back with us from Melbourne.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Matt morning, Yeah, good morning to you as well.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Right, Oh, let's play a game. The game is what's
your favorite victory? Was it Taerpo or was it the
other weekend in Tasmania?
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good line to start off with, I suppose, but for me,
you definitely have to be Taupo. I think that was
a pretty special weekend for all of us. You know,
two wins in one week in is pretty cool and
I think for me winning at home, especially in front
of the New Zealand crowd, it couldn't have been any better.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
And of course since we last talked the announcements have
been made. It's going to be Tarpeau and christ dur
So twice a year for the next handful of years. Anyway,
as a local, you've got to be thrilled.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh, it's absolutely insane. It's going to be really good
to get around down and have the sort of South
Island crowd around us, And I think I think they're
going to do a pretty good job dressing the track up.
I think it's going to be I think it's going
to be a really good weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, as regards Tasmania and that last race that you won,
how long does that, you know, stay with you, the excitement,
the thrill of what unfolded, or you know, by Monday,
have you moved on?
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Oh? No, that was a pretty special race, like just
how everything played out as the tires were going away,
and just how close it was at the end. It Yeah,
definitely stayed with me for a while. I think there
was still a fear bit of analyzing to do over
the weekend as a whole, just in terms of our speed.
But yeah, it was a pretty it was a pretty
awesome race. I think it's definitely one of the most
(01:42):
fun races I've ever had, as tough as it was,
but it was It was pretty cool to women in
that way. And yeah, I didn't think I was gonna
I was going to when I was waking up that
morning I didn't think I was going to be leaving
the track for a win, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
So talk to me about your confidence and how about
building third year into this. You're in a good team,
you've got some good people around you, and you seem
to be growing into this and things seem to be
going very well.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, definitely. You know, this year is definitely the best
start we've had over my three years and the category
so's it's been really good in terms of that, especially
after after four rounds we're sitting third in the championship,
which is the highest I've ever been. So that's been
a really good sort of start for us to carry
(02:28):
through some really good momentum for the rest of the season.
But there's still a lot of work to do, Like
there's still some tracks coming up where we haven't particular,
so there's a lot of work to that codes into that,
especially the next two rounds probably are still I think
Tasmania was definitely the weakest track we had from last year,
(02:48):
but Darwin and Perth we still weren't when as splash
as we needed to be, So I think I think, yeah,
there's still a lot of hard work to come, but
as far as having a good start for the year.
It's been really good.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
A couple of key words there, Darwin and Perth always
reminds me just how big Australia is. I mean, just
getting everything you talk about coming to New Zealand, but
I mean what about getting from Melbourne to Perth and
Melbourne to Darwin. I mean, you've got the trucks in
the coming. That's gargentuan, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, it's a big old place. There's a lot of
there's a lot of space to be filled up and
it's actually a pretty tight turnaround for us in between
Perth and oh and I think it's only a weekend
in between, so boys are going to be working pretty
hard to get the cars back. I think it takes
takes a few days to drive back from Perth and
(03:37):
then even even a few days to drive up straight
up to Darwin. It's basically a straight line up there.
But lucky we've got a truck driver here absolutely loves driving,
so he doesn't mind.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Well, that's goodwill be thirteen past eight, Matt pains with
us out of supercars now. Now what I've been meaning
to talk to you about as what I've observed so far.
So you have a third year into this. You're good
at qualifying, right, so you've got what they say good
quali speed, so you're fast around a single lap. And
now it appears to me what you're building into is
they've got, you know, what they call good race speed.
(04:07):
So are those two different things? Does one follow the
other or are they like separate skills?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, so it's qualifying speed I will always feel like
I've had from the start, and that's something you know,
you can definitely grow up with naturally in your career.
But my race race speed and race craft probably weren't
as good as they could have been right when I
sort of burst into the category a couple of years ago.
(04:36):
So for me, the biggest thing we've all improved on
as a team is definitely our race speed. I think
our race car is probably one of the strongest in
the field, especially looking after its ties, so and essentially
is that is the aim of our game. So that's
definitely been a huge win for us. But in terms
(04:57):
of getting that race speed out of the car, I
think it has heard our qualifying performance a little bit,
so we still need to work on that. Our quality
car just doesn't seem to have the last little bit
to get out of it. So that's something we're working on.
But yeah, for sure, the race speed is probably the
most important. I think, you know, you can go from
(05:20):
having a sort of average quality and if you're bank
on having a quick car, you can easily make up time,
especially with strategy and things like that. So it's important.
But the qualifying some tracks you need to you need
to qualify well, so it's tough to sort of trade
off both for both really and how.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Much feedback do you as a driver give an engineer
or a team on that sort of thing that you
know that you get from the track as opposed to
what they call telemetry.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Oh no, it's huge, Like we're constantly talking about balance
of the car, especially in the breakfe session. That's basically
that's basically all we're trying to turn. And whether it's
whether it's race car or a quality car, it can change.
But that's certainly the driver feedback is certainly almost priority
in terms of over all the senses and data that
(06:08):
the guys get from the car. So that's big for us.
And even even during the racing, like as I'm out
on the track, we're still talking about it and using
the different tools to try and sort of get the
car a little bit more in the window. Ifort isn't.
It's pretty hard to do because there's not really much
we can do. But even talking about your Willston and
(06:31):
all the things like that, just trying to keep everything
covered off to make sure you're getting the most out
of it.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Now, Now, what about that how malleable is the car
because a lot of us are fascinated at the moment
with Liam and f one of course, I mean, and
what you learn an if one is you can tell
before you even get to a weekend. They know before
you get to a weekend on the track and what
you're going to be able to do and how good
your competitive you're going to be. How similar in supercows
is that?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Oh, it's definitely similar, Like we know coming into a
weekend what what will and will work and what probably
won't that's done and a lot of the pre event
stuff before the race weekend. But also it's for us
we can't actually change too much of the car like
when we're out in the race. So mainly it's there's
(07:18):
there's there's probably a hundred different components you can change
in the car itself in terms of set up, so
it can get very sophisticated very quickly. But we all
have a we all have a base setup of sort
of where we feel comfortable with our car, and they
will change that according to sort of the track geometry
and and how the corners, what the radiuses are and
(07:40):
things like that, so it's always evolving, but essentially we
just sort of have that baseline where we work around
that each track we go to.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
And given that, then how bullish are you for the
rest of the season, I mean, how do you how
do you feel your tracking?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Well? For me, I think like I, like I said before,
it's these next two rounds are really going to sort
of shape our championship. I think if we can really
improve on these two and you know, still banks some
really solid points, you know, I think I think we're
going to be looking really good. We haven't been to
Queens and Raceway before, only just doing some ride days there,
(08:16):
so that'll be another one to sort of put on
the cards. I think I think that track should probably
suit us as well. So I know that a lot
of the tracks coming up at the end of the
year we're pretty strong at so I think it's I
think it's looking good. There's definitely been there's definitely been
a couple of rounds this year we're probably didn't think
we were going to score as many points as we did,
(08:37):
so I think it's looking pretty positive. And and from
the start of the year to where we are now,
I think there's no doubt about it that we've we've
improved our car quite a bit, so that's definitely definitely
helped us as well. But it's going to be it's
going to be the next two rounds which really sort
of show how we're going and what do you do?
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I mean this gap between the races, I mean, what
do you do? Do you you behind a wheel you
and assume you're going to track days and you're keeping
up a rhythm or do you just sit and wait?
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Well, basically it's it's pretty there's there's quite a few
big gaps this year. So I mainly just you know,
do a lot of simulator training every day and trying
to get into the workshop and sort of see what
the boys are up to and have a few meetings
and stuff. We do have quite a bit of quite
a few appearances and that just for responses throughout in
(09:28):
between the rounds and just making sure everyone's happy. And yeah,
it's not too bad, but there there there are some
quite tight turned rounds this year as well, so it's
more challenging for the guys to get the cards ready.
Then for us we sort of just get back and
reset and then go again.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And what about all this mata? I mean, is this
as good as it gets you living the dream?
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Yeah, I'd say it's pretty close to that. Certainly, when
you when you when you when you know you got speed,
it's certainly better. And when you're when you're winning, it's
it's obviously the best. When you're not going so well,
it is tough. You know, people looking and see that
you know, oh you're driving race cars, it must be awesome,
But it still can be as hard as any job
(10:11):
out there when the pressure is on and you know
you need to deliver a result, so it can be tough.
But certainly now I've feel like I'm settled in in
a pretty good place and with how the car is
tracking and that it seems pretty positive for the rest
of the year.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
Well, we're enjoying watching it as always good to catch
up with you go well on Perth beauty.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
There we go. Matt Payne out of Melbourne this morning.
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks it'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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