Supercars, Perth: Matt Payne fastest through practice sessions

Rising New Zealand star Matt Payne timed his run to perfection to be fastest during Friday’s two wild practice sessions for the Perth Super 440.

Matt Payne fastest after Friday practice for the 2025 Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440, Event 05 of the Repco Supercars Championship, Wanneroo Raceway, Perth, Queensland, Australia. 6 Jun, 2025.

Just like the Socceroos did the night before, rising New Zealand star Matt Payne timed his run to perfection to jump to the top of the timesheets during Friday’s two wild practice sessions for the Perth Super 440.

Following on from his blistering finish to win the last Supercars race in Tasmania four weeks ago, the 22-year-old Kiwi uncorked another sizzling lap in his Penrite Ford Mustang to leapfrog his rivals and send them a clear message that he means business.

“Credit to the guys. They did an awesome job,” Payne said. “I know we’ve got the best crew here.

“We’re working our (backsides) off to get this thing fast and thankfully we did. It’s pretty cool. Press on for tomorrow.”

After finishing 16th in the first practice session then getting caught in traffic behind David Reynolds approaching the end of the second hitout, Payne calmly resettled himself for one more shot just before the chequered flag was waved.

Driving flat to the boards, Payne nailed it and lapped the Wanneroo Raceway in 54.3903 seconds, setting the stage for an epic finish to a mammoth week in Perth after the Socceroos’ thrilling win over Japan that all but secured Australia’s place at next year’s FIFA World Cup.

WA deputy premier Rita Saffioti Socceroos players Matt Ryan, Martin Boyle and Supercars drivers Brodie Kosteki and Will Davison.

“It’s just part of our session, I knew we were going to get a little bit baulked by Reynolds there, so I just backed out of it and went again,” Payne said.

“Everyone stayed cool, and it’s a really, really awesome turnaround from practice 1, which wasn’t ideal for us rolling out of the truck the way we did.

“It’s a real credit to the guys to get it tuned up and get it to the front for practice 2.”

Anton De Pasquale was second quickest, just 0.0856s behind Payne, with Thomas Randle third, just ahead of current championship leader Broc Feeney, who released a video of himself behind the wheel of his Chevrolet Camaro competing in a tug-o-war with NRL and NRLW stars from the Bulldogs.

With qualifying set to take place on Saturday then three races split over the weekend, no-one is taking anything for granted with the top seven cars all from different teams.

Sitting third on the championship standings after winning three of the last six races, Payne was feeling upbeat about his rapid turnaround but was also wary about reading too much into the results.

Matt Payne was fastest after Friday practice.

“It’s tough. It’s only two 30 minute practice sessions so you got to squeeze everything you can in,” he said.

“We did a really good job of just going through what we did in practice 1. We tried a lot so yeah credit to the guys, they did an awesome job.”

The second session was red flagged when Lochie Dalton spun into the sand and almost rolled his car, while a lot of drivers complained about blistering on their super soft tyres on a track known for wearing out the rubber.

Another Kiwi, Jaxon Evans set the pace in the opening practice session after benefiting from a rule giving new drivers an extra set of tyres.

“It’s really nice to finish the session on top, the first time I’ve done it in Supercars,” he said.

“Being my second year in the championship, I get an extra set of tyres, so we obviously put them to good use.

“It’s just nice to know that the car is fast and I hope we can continue that way for the rest of the weekend.“

Originally published as Supercars, Perth: Matt Payne fastest through practice sessions