Matthew Payne has suggested contact may have been a contributing factor to his crash in this year’s 24 Hours of Spa.

The Earl Bamber Motorsport driver was at the wheel of the #16 Porsche 911 GT3 R when he crashed at Blanchimont in the 10th hour of the race.

“Unfortunately I had quite a large crash at Blanchimont early this morning around 2:30am,” Payne said.

“We suffered some contact a few corners before which may have contributed to what was the outcome.

“I was released from hospital this [Sunday] morning.

“I can’t thank the guys and girls from Earl Bamber Motorsport, the Grove Racing family of Brenton, Stephen, Tanya, and my personal crew enough.

“I am really sorry for the end result as at the time our pace was very strong and we were having a great time.

“Big thanks to the medical crew, the track team for looking after me, Porsche for making a very safe car and Bell Helmets for keeping me safe.

“On to the next one.”

Replay of the incident. Looks horrible. But again, driver thankfully OK 🙏

Brilliantly quick reaction from the marshals. Much love to the Orange Army out there! 🧡#Spa24h 🇧🇪🎢 #FanatecGT #GTWorldChEu #IGTC @Pirelli @AWS @CrowdStrike @fanatec @TotalEnergies pic.twitter.com/z1m25fxEqq

— TotalEnergies 24Hours of Spa (@24HoursofSpa) July 31, 2022

The New Zealander had a difficult lead-up to the Race, spinning while exiting Les Combes in the Pre-Qualifying session.

Despite this, he took the challenges of the weekend, in his stride.

“One of the most challenging things I have done having to qualify at night,” Payne remarked.

“This place is crazy, one of my favourite tracks.”

A front-runner in the Dunlop Super2 Series, he is likely to become one of Grove Racing’s full-time drivers in the Repco Supercars Championship next year.