Matt Payne

Matt Payne
Matt Payne at the Adelaide Street Circuit in 2025
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	(2002-10-03) 3 October 2002 (age 23) Auckland, New Zealand
Supercars Championship career
Debut season	2022
Current team	Grove Racing
Racing licence	FIA Silver (until 2023) FIA Gold (2024–)
Car number	19
Starts	79
Wins	6
Podiums	14
Poles	2
Best finish	5th in 2025
Previous series
2021 2021	Toyota Racing Series Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
Championship titles
2021	Toyota Racing Series

Matthew Allen "Matt" Payne (born 3 October 2002) is a New Zealand racing driver from Auckland, New Zealand. ^[1] He is currently competing in the Supercars Championship with Grove Racing, driving the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT. ^[2] He won the 2025 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander.

Racing career

Toyota Racing Series

After turning heads with his karting success, Payne tested the FT-50 (older spec TRS) and impressed immediately with confirmation coming in December 2020 that Payne would contest the full three round 2021 Toyota Racing Series for M2 Motorsport. ^[3]

The 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix was the opening round of the season and was held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the series lacked international drivers. To compensate the event organizers called on experienced New Zealand racing drivers such as Shane Van Gisbergen, Greg Murphy & Andre Heimgartner to heighten the quantity and quality of the field. ^[4] Payne impressed in his open-wheel debut finishing third in all three races over the weekend including the NZGP. Payne went on to win five of the remaining six races, winning the 2021 Toyota Racing Series conformably over second placed Kaleb Ngatoa. ^[5]

Supercars career

Payne would debut in the Australian Supercars Championship in 2022 for Grove Racing, his debut race was the Batuhrst 1000 co-driving with Lee Holdsworth where they finished the race in 6th place.

2025 was the breakout year for Payne, finishing 5th in the championship, but also winning 5 wins and prestigious trophies including the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for accumulating the most point during the New Zealand round, Bathurst 1000 & Enduro Cup along with Garth Tander and capping off with the Adelaide 500 at the end of the season.

Racing record

Karting career summary

Season	Series	Position
2010	New Zealand Top Half Series - Cadet	14th
2011	New Zealand Schools Nationals - Cadet	9th
	43rd Blossom Festival - Cadet	5th
2012	New Zealand Top Half Series - Cadet	13th
	New Zealand Sprint Championship - Cadet	1st
	New Zealand Schools Nationals - Cadet	1st
	North Island Sprint Championship - 100cc Junior Restricted	3rd
	Auckland City of Sails - Cadet Raket	1st
	CIK Trophy of New Zealand - Cadet	18th
	Auckland Regional Schools Championship - Cadet	1st
2013	New Zealand Top Half Series - Yamaha Junior	11th
	New Zealand Sprint Championship - 100cc Junior Restricted	4th
	North Island Sprint Championship - 100cc Junior Restricted	5th
	Auckland City of Sails - 100cc Junior Restricted	2nd
2013	North Island Sprint Championship - Rotax Junor	6th
	Auckland City of Sails - 100cc Junior Restricted	2nd
	New Zealand Sprint Championship - 100cc Junior Restricted	2nd
2014	New Zealand Sprint Championship - Rotax Junor	6th
2016	RMC New Zealand - Junor Max	1st
2018	New Zealand Pro Kart Series - KZ2	4th
	North Island Sprint Championship - Rotax Light	2nd
	New Zealand Sprint Championship - Rotax Light	8th
	Auckland City of Sails - KZ2	2nd
2019	CIK Trophy of New Zealand - KZ2	11th
	New Zealand Sprint Championship - KZ2	1st
	FIA Karting International Super Cup - KZ2	34th
	Race of Stars - KZ2	3rd
	Australian Karting Championship - KZ2	10th
2020	WSK Super Masters Series - KZ2	42nd
	25th South Gardia Winter Cup - KZ2	12th

Circuit racing summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2021	Toyota Racing Series	M2 Competition	9	5	3	5	9	287	1st
	Porsche Carrera Cup Australia	Earl Bamber Motorsport	13	1	2	0	3	362	6th
	Super2 Series	Grove Racing	3	0	0	0	0	234	17th
2022	Super2 Series	Grove Racing	11	2	3	0	6	1209	3rd
	Supercars Championship		1	0	0	0	0	204	34th
	24H GT Series - GT3	Earl Bamber Motorsport	1	0	0	0	0	5	24th
	European Le Mans Series - GTE	JMW Motorsport	5	0	0	0	0	33	15th
	GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup	Singha Racing Team TP 12 [6]	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
		EBM Grove Racing	1	0	0	0	0
2023	Supercars Championship	Grove Racing	28	1	0	0	1	1487	14th
2023-24	Middle East Trophy - GT3	EBM – Grove Racing	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2024	Supercars Championship	Grove Racing	26	4	1	1	9	1524	3rd
	24H Series - GT3		2	0	0	0	0	0	NC

* Season still in progress

Complete Toyota Racing Series results

Payne during the 2021 NZGP at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	DC	Points
2021	M2 Competition	HD1 1 3	HD1 2 3	HD1 3 3	HD2 1 1	HD2 2 1	MAN 1 1	MAN 2 1	MAN 3 2	MAN 4 1	1st	356

Complete New Zealand Grand Prix results

Year	Team	Car	Qualifying	Main race
2021	M2 Competition	Tatuus FT-60 - Toyota	4th	3rd

Complete Australian Carrera Cup Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded)

Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Pos	Pts
2021	Earl Bamber Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991.II	SAN R1 12	SAN R2 10	SAN R3 16	BEN R4 Ret	BEN R5 5	BEN R6 3	TOW R7 10	TOW R8 3	TOW R9 1	BAT R10 15	BAT R11 9	BAT R12 5	BAT R13 4	6th	362

Super2 Series results

(key) (Race results only)

Super2 Series results
Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Position	Points
2021	Grove Racing	Nissan Altima L33	BAT R1	BAT R2	TOW1 R3	TOW1 R4	TOW2 R5	TOW2 R6	SMP R7 16	SMP R8 C	BAT R9 13	BAT R10 5			17th	234
2022	Grove Racing	Nissan Altima L33	SMP R1 4	SMP R2 2	BAR R3 1	BAR R4 2	TOW R5 10	TOW R6 Ret	SAN R7 19	SAN R8 1	BAT R9 3	BAT R10 C	ADE R11 2	ADE R12 4	3rd	1209

Supercars Championship results

Supercars results
Year	Team	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	Position	Points
2021	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang GT	BAT1 R1	BAT1 R2	SAN R3	SAN R4	SAN R5	SYM R6	SYM R7	SYM R8	BEN R9	BEN R10	BEN R11	HID R12	HID R13	HID R14	TOW1 R15	TOW1 R16	TOW2 R17	TOW2 R18	TOW2 R19	SMP1 R20	SMP1 R21	SMP1 R22	SMP2 R23	SMP2 R24	SMP2 R25	SMP3 R26	SMP3 R27	SMP3 R28	SMP4 R29 PO	SMP4 R30 PO	BAT2 R31				NC	0
2022	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang GT	SMP R1	SMP R2	SYM R3	SYM R4	SYM R5	MEL R6	MEL R7	MEL R8	MEL R9	BAR R10	BAR R11	BAR R12	WIN R13	WIN R14	WIN R15	HID R16	HID R17	HID R18	TOW R19	TOW R20	BEN R21	BEN R22	BEN R23	SAN R24 PO	SAN R25 PO	SAN R26	PUK R27	PUK R28	PUK R29	BAT R30 6	SUR R31	SUR R32	ADL R33	ADL R34	34th	204
2023	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang GT	NEW R1 12	NEW R2 14	MEL R3 13	MEL R4 17	MEL R5 21	MEL R6 12	BAR R7 6	BAR R8 9	BAR R9 18	SYM R10 15	SYM R11 15	SYM R12 21	HID R13 19	HID R14 23	HID R15 25	TOW R16 15	TOW R17 18	SMP R18 24	SMP R19 23	BEN R20 7	BEN R21 6	BEN R22 18	SAN R23 6	BAT R24 11	SUR R25 9	SUR R26 4	ADE R27 23	ADE R28 1							14th	1673
2024	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang GT	BAT1 R1 10	BAT1 R2 7	MEL R3 3	MEL R4 3	MEL R5 Ret	MEL R6 14	TAU R7 13	TAU R8 4	BAR R9 8	BAR R10 9	HID R11 15	HID R12 20	TOW R13 4	TOW R14 1	SMP R15 2	SMP R16 4	SYM R17 17	SYM R18 21	SAN R19 4	BAT R20 Ret	SUR R21 4	SUR R22 9	ADE R23 4	ADE R24 23											6th	2019
2025	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang GT	SYD R1 4	SYD R2 5	SYD R3 6	MEL R4 9	MEL R5 11	MEL R6 10	MEL R7 C	TAU R8 1	TAU R9 4	TAU R10 1	SYM R11 15	SYM R12 7	SYM R13 1	BAR R14 6	BAR R15 5	BAR R16 2	HID R17 3	HID R18 8	HID R19 3	TOW R20 4	TOW R21 3	TOW R22 5	QLD R23 12	QLD R24 6	QLD R25 4	BEN R26 3	BAT R27 1	SUR R28 10	SUR R29 4	SAN R30 6	SAN R31 22	ADE R32 6	ADE R33 6	ADE R34 1	5th	4461

Bathurst 1000 results

Year	Team	Car	Co-driver	Position	Laps
2022	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang S550	Lee Holdsworth	6th	161
2023	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang S650	Kévin Estre	11th	161
2024	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang S650	Garth Tander	DNF	130
2025	Grove Racing	Ford Mustang S650	Garth Tander	1st	161

Complete European Le Mans Series results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Class	Chassis	1	2	3	4	5	6	Rank	Points
2022	JMW Motorsport	LMGTE	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	LEC 10	IMO 4	MNZ 6	CAT	SPA 6	POR 7	15th	33

References

1. "Matthew Payne Biography". Supercars.
2. "Kiwi prodigy on pathway to Supercars seat". Supercars.
3. MATTHEW PAYNE CONFIRMS FULL TRS CAMPAIGN motorsport.org.nz
4. Heimgartner joins New Zealand GP field Speedcafe 9 January 2021
5. Australia-bound Payne wins Toyota Racing Series title Speedcafe 15 February 2021
6. Payne to make GT World Challenge Europe debut Speedcafe 12 June 2022

External links

• "Matthew Payne Biography". Supercars.com. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
• "Matthew Payne - Racing career profile - Driver Database". driverdb.com. Retrieved 2 June 2022.

Sporting positions
Preceded by Igor Fraga	Toyota Racing Series Winner 2021	Succeeded by Charlie Wurz (FR Oceania)