Percat opens up on brush with NZ police

Percat came under the fire from the local law during last year’s Taupo Supercars event thanks to some tyre smoking work during the track to town parade.

He wasn’t the first to pull such a stunt, James Courtney famously burning some rubber in 2024, however more strict guidelines for 2025 left local police unimpressed.

There was speculation Percat’s car could be impounded during the race event, or a significant fine applied, and while those outcomes were avoided, he was left with a community service sentence to serve.

Since then any detail on the matter has been hard to come by, until Percat’s recent appearance on the Lucky Dogs podcast where he opened up on the saga.

“I was just doing it for the fans,” Percat told hosts Brodie Kostecki and Will Brown.

“Apparently there were cops at the track to try and take the car. Supercars stopped that. I think they genuinely stopped that.

“And then they were like, ‘you can’t race’. And then I got out of that.

“I think actually all of you in front of me did it. [Will Davison] definitely did. And I’m like, ‘oh okay’. So I did like a little bit of a skid, a bit of brake pressure as well. And then did another one a bit further around.

“And then, yeah, it just kicked off.

“I think the fine was like – we’d have to ring Tim Edwards – [but] it was massive. I’m like, ‘I physically don’t have that much money’, like huge money.

“Just take my licence. I’m done. I’m not paying that fine.

“And then we got it to community service.

“Then they sent through this thing; it was going to Matt [Stone], and then Matt wasn’t forwarding the info to me and they were getting the shits.

“But they’re like, ‘Nick, when are you doing this community service?’. And they sent it through. And I was basically the equivalent of 9am-5pm for two weeks in New Zealand.

“I’m like, ‘don’t take this the wrong way, but I run a business. I can’t go to New Zealand for two weeks’.

“I actually sent Tim Edwards my schedule and I’m like, ‘if you can find a three-day block in the next six months, it’s yours’. And they couldn’t find one.

“So I think if I go to New Zealand, it’s probably outstanding.”

Percat joked that fears over flying back into New Zealand had ruined his wedding plans with fiancé Baylee Mullen.

“We got engaged in Queenstown, and we were going to have our wedding there,” he said. “And she’s like, ‘well, now you’ve just ruined it. Knowing your luck, we’ll get there and they’ll be like, we’re not letting you through the border.

“I’m like, ‘it can’t be that bad’.”