Perfect Payne beats Waters in bruising Taupo opener

Payne’s race was drama-free from start to finish, but the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the field, which left several cars sporting war wounds.

Payne led Tickford Racing’s Cameron Waters while Ryan Wood claimed his first podium of the season for Walkinshaw Andretti United.

“It’s pretty special here today. We had a good qualifying and I knew we had really good speed for the race, I just needed to get the start,” said Payne.

“We did that. We were really good in the first stint and then I saw there was a potential Safety Car with the Wendy’s car, I was sort of hoping it wasn’t going to be.

“And then I got a bit scared because I was out there by myself when everyone else pitted and I thought, ‘oh, no, this could just happen’.

“But it’s just insane. Seeing the crowd on the in lap, everyone’s clapping, it’s so special to be here.”

From pole position, Payne got the holeshot into Turn 1 over Kostecki.

It took less than a lap for the chaos to kick off when Matt Stone Racing’s Cameron Hill got into the back of Cooper Murray and sent the Erebus Motorsport driver off the road at Turn 7.

For the bump-and-run, Hill was given a 15-second penalty. Murray dropped from 10th to 24th as a result of the off-road excursion.

WE ARE RACING IN TAUPŌ!!!

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Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert found himself facing the wrong way after an awkward clash on Lap 5. As Thomas Randle tried to pass Anton De Pasquale for eighth, he nudged the back of Mostert and sent him into a spin.

In trying to avoid the spinning #25 Ford Mustang, Randle in the #55 car swerved into the side of the #18 Chevrolet Camaro of De Pasquale. Wheel-to-wheel contact sent De Pasquale briefly airborne but he continued unabated. For the incident, Randle was handed a 15-second penalty.

On Lap 10, Brad Jones Racing driver Macauley Jones pulled his #96 Camaro off to the side of the road out of Turn 2 when he suffered a crank angle sensor failure.

Randle collects Mostert at Turn 1 😬

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That drew the Safety Car and reduced the speed of the field. The pit lane quickly came alive as teams tried to capitalise on the speed limit.

At the time, Payne led Kostecki, Waters, Ryan Wood, Will Davison, Jack Le Brocq, Anton De Pasquale, Cameron Hill, Thomas Randle, and Will Brown. Broce Feeney wasn’t far behind in 11th.

Payne elected to stay on track while second-placed Kostecki, third-placed Waters, and the lion’s share of the field pitted. It proved to be a decisive moment in the race as several cars double-stacked and carnage kicked off.

Kostecki was one of the biggest losers. He fell from second to seventh with a slow pit stop, but his teammate Davison was even worse off, falling to 16th from fifth.

Triple Eight also double-stacked. Brown gained two places to eighth but Feeney fell to 18th.

CHAOS IN TAUPŌ 😱

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There was mayhem when Hill left his pit bay and clattered one of Dick Johnson Racing’s tyres and fired it off towards the pit wall.

As it turned out, the speed limit remained in place longer than expected and Payne was able to pit a lap later and returned to the race in the lead.

De Pasquale was another to pit later and reaped the rewards of staying out to surge up to third. Waters, meanwhile, was second.

There was confusion under the Safety Car when Tickford, WAU, and Supercars argued over Randle returning from the pits ahead of Wood. In the end, Randle was given permission to pass Wood having reached the pit lane rejoin line ahead.

Payne led Waters on the Lap 17 restart from De Pasquale, Le Brocq, Wood, Randle, Kostecki, Brown, Hill, and Golding.

Wood immediately made a move on Randle for fifth at Turn 1 on the race restart.

Randle finds himself turned around in battle 🤯#RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/TWTHslxIQH

— Supercars (@supercars) April 12, 2025

Kostecki’s efforts to recover lost ground were undone when he spun Randle at Turn 2 and copped a 15-second penalty for it.

There was bedlam at the back end of the field. Mostert’s efforts to regain ground saw him yo-yo around 15th place.

He looked to have put a pass on Blanchard Racing Team’s James Courtney but found himself cast wide by the 2010 champion at Turn 5 and lost what time he’d made up.

With 10 laps to go, Murray found himself in the wars again out of Turn 9 after being side-swiped by Courtney.

Murray goes flying off the track 😱#RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/wNpFDB0SD7

— Supercars (@supercars) April 12, 2025

De Pasquale looked like he might score his first podium of the season for Team 18 until Wood made late headway to third with two laps to go. Still, fourth place marked De Pasquale’s season-best result.

All told, Payne came home four seconds clear of Waters. Wood completed the podium in third ahead of De Pasquale.

Kostecki crossed the line in fifth but was demoted with his 15-second post-race penalty. That gave Brown fifth. Hill crossed the line in seventh but also dropped down the order with his penalty applied.

With second place, Waters slipped ahead of Brown in the championship standings.

Race 9 of the ITM Taupo Super440 is scheduled for 2:05pm AEST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Taupo Super440, Race 8