Matt Payne

Matthew Allen Payne (born 3 October 2002) is a New Zealand racing driver from Auckland, New Zealand. He is currently competing in the Supercars Championship with Grove Racing, driving the No. 19 Ford Mustang GT. He won the 2025 Bathurst 1000 with Garth Tander. He went to the same school in Waiau Pa with F1 driver Liam Lawson.

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.

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. 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.

Supercars career

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

2025 was the breakout year for Payne, finishing fifth in the championship, but also winning fivr wins and prestigious trophies including the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for accumulating the most point during the New Zealand round, winning Race 13 in Tasmania over by Broc Feeney by 0.0550 seconds, the third closest finish in Supercars, 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

Circuit racing summary

* Season still in progress

Complete Toyota Racing Series results

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

Complete New Zealand Grand Prix results

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)

Super2 Series results

(key) (Race results only)

Supercars Championship results

Bathurst 1000 results

The Bend 500 Results

Complete European Le Mans Series results

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

External links

• . Supercars.com.
• . driverdb.com.