It was a dominant performance from Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne to deliver him victory in the opening Repco Supercars Championship race in Perth.
Payne led from early on and left the chaos behind him, which was afflicted on many title contenders none more so than Brodie Kostecki.
The Shell V-Power Racing Team driver was battling Payne’s teammate Kai Allen when the duo clashed at Turn 1 and sent the 2023 champion into the sand trap.
Allen went for a move down the I side at Turn 1, but Kostecki swept from the outside and two collided resulting in the Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang getting bogged in the sand trap.
Payne didn’t get the best of starts as Monster Castrol Racing’s Cam Waters led the way during the opening laps before the Repco Sprint Cup leader dove down the inside of Turn 7, which opened the door for Ryan Wood to also slide on through.
Wood was eager to take the lead after a superb exit, but was eased onto the grass by Payne, who retained the lead.
Payne, Wood, Waters, Thomas Randle and Kai Allen broke away at the front as Andre Heimgartner was the cork in the bottle for the remainder of an eager chasing pack.
The Monster Castrol Racing duo slid wide at Turn 1 costing Randle fourth place to Allen just as Heimgartner made way for Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale and more.
Red Bull Ampol Racing continued its difficult time as neither Broc Feeney nor Will Brown were able to make in-roads from the start and were stuck in the battle pack formerly led by Heimgartner.
A rare mistake from Feeney further compounded the situation when he ran wide at Turn 5 to allow teammate Brown and David Reynolds through.
Kostecki was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 19 for three tyres, while Allen blinked first within the top five as the Penrite Racing elected to change all four.
Reigning champion Chaz Mostert played a masterstroke by using the undercut to his advantage to elevate into the podium positions behind Wood and Payne after the pit stop sequence.
After the Kostecki-Allen incident, but Payne remained in front ahead of Wood and a charging De Pasquale.
Waters was fourth following a slow stop from Mostert, Allen, Feeney, Heimgartner, Randle and Rylan Gray.
Ford also secured the Supercars Champion Manufacturer award further highlighting its dominance.
Race 24 begins at 4:20pm AWST/6:20pm AEST.