Matt Payne wins eventful Taupō finale

Matt Payne (Ford) won the third and final Supercars Championship race of the weekend at Taupō Motorsport Park and climbs to third in the drivers’ championship.

The Penrite Racing driver started sixth on the grid and made strong progress during the eventful opening laps.

Brodie Kostecki started from pole position ahead of Anton De Pasquale and headed the field into the first corner where both made mistakes, dropping them into the clutches of the drivers behind.

Ryan Wood, who started third, managed to get past Kostecki for the lead with some contact during the first lap, a fight which enabled Cameron Hill, who started fourth, and Payne to slip past into first and second.

Wood was handed a five-second penalty for his contact with Kostecki.

Payne made the move for the lead on Hill on lap eight, with Hill dropping down to third in the process as Thomas Randle took advantage of the squabble.

As the pit stops were completed, Payne held a comfortable lead and won the race by three seconds ahead of Chevrolet rival Hill.

Walkinshaw Andretti United driver Chaz Mostert fought his way up from ninth on the grid to finish third after a strong final part of the race.

Kostecki came home in fourth ahead of Randle and Andre Heimgartner.

The Triple Eight duo of Broc Feeney and Will Brown finished in seventh and eighth place respectively.

Brown keeps the lead of the standings with a margin of 34 points over Cameron Waters who could only manage 12th place after an incident earlier in the race. Race winner Payne is third, 46 points from the lead.

The next Supercars Championship race takes place at Symmons Plains on May 9-11.