Matthew "Matt" Payne (born 3 October 2002) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

racing driver from

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. He is currently competing in the Dunlop Super2 Series with

Grove Racing Grove Racing is an Australian motor racing team that's previously competed in various series, including the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship and Super2 Series. The team is making its debut in the Supercars Championship in 2022. They wil ...

, driving the No. 10

Nissan Altima L33 The Nissan Altima is a mid-size car that has been manufactured by Nissan since 1992. It is a continuation of the Nissan Bluebird line, which began in 1955. The Altima has historically been larger, more powerful, and more luxurious than the Ni ...

. Payne is also inaugural inductee of the Grove Junior Team, a program to fast track young drivers into the

Supercars Championship The Supercars Championship is a touring car racing category in Australia, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport. Supercars events take place in all Australian ...

. In 2022 Payne will make his

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recen ...

debut driving alongside current Bathurst champion

Lee Holdsworth Lee Holdsworth (born 2 February 1983) is a semi-retired Australian racing driver. He won the 2021 Bathurst 1000 alongside Chaz Mostert and finished his full-time career after the 2022 season, after nearly two decades of racing. He plans to retur ...

in the Grove Racing Ford Mustang GT FN.

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 The 2021 Castrol Toyota Racing Series was the seventeenth running of the Toyota Racing Series, the premier open-wheel motorsport category held in New Zealand. The series consisted of nine races at three meetings. It began on 24 January at Hampton ...

for M2 Motorsport. The 2021 New Zealand Grand Prix was the opening round of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

and was held at

Hampton Downs Motorsport Park The Hampton Downs Motorsport Park is situated in rural northern Waikato (about halfway between Auckland and Hamilton on the Waikato Expressway), New Zealand near the Meremere drag strip and the dirt track club. History The motorsport park is an ...

, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

the series lacked international drivers. To compensate the event organizers called on experienced

racing drivers such as

Shane Van Gisbergen Shane Robert van Gisbergen (born 9 May 1989) is a New Zealand racing driver in the Supercars Championship racing in the Number 97 Holden ZB Commodore car for Triple Eight Race Engineering. With three Supercars Championship wins (2016, 2021, 202 ...

Greg Murphy Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear Live, when it had its first internati ...

Andre Heimgartner Andre Heimgartner (born 8 June 1995) is a New Zealand motor-racing driver who currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship driving the No. 8 Holden Commodore ZB for Brad Jones Racing. Career Formula racing At 12 years of age commenc ...

to heighten the quantity and quality of the field. 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

conformably over second placed

Kaleb Ngatoa Kaleb Ngatoa (born 11 May 2001), is a New Zealand Māori motor racing driver. Career Before his switch to car racing, Ngatoa was one of the country's most successful karting talents. He started karting in 2011 and immediately shot to prominen ...

.Australia-bound Payne wins Toyota Racing Series title
Speedcafe 15 February 2021

Racing record

Career summary

* Season still in progress

Toyota Racing Series results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

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

Australian Carrera Cup Championship results

(

) (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)

Super2 Series results

(

) (Race results only)

Supercars Championship results

Bathurst 1000 results

European Le Mans Series results

(

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Matthew 2002 births New Zealand racing drivers Toyota Racing Series drivers Living people Supercars Championship drivers M2 Competition drivers European Le Mans Series drivers 24H Series drivers Karting World Championship drivers Kelly Racing drivers