{"id":743726,"date":"2026-06-18T04:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743726\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T04:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T04:32:21","slug":"supercars-news-matt-payne-issues-statement-confirming-2027-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/743726\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Matt Payne issues statement confirming 2027 plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Matt
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Payne. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\"\"\/
<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kiwi has issued a statement confirming he\u2019ll see out his contract with the Ford squad that runs through until the end of next season.<\/p>\n

It puts a halt to the tug-of-war over his services, with General Motors having been eager to poach the contracted star for 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past few months there has been a lot of speculation about my future, so I wanted to provide a brief update,\u201d said Payne in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, my focus is on driving for Grove Racing and continuing to build on what we have achieved together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a contract with Grove Racing and I expect to be driving with the team to the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor now, my priority is winning races, competing for the championship, and delivering the best possible results for Grove Racing, our sponsors and everyone who supports us.<\/p>\n

Get your name on Aaron Seton\u2019s 2026 Supercars wildcard at the Ipswich Super 440 and go in the draw to win his framed, signed race suit.
\n Click here now.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI am excited about what lies ahead and remain fully focused on the remainder of the 2026 season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Payne\u2019s wording suggests he\u2019s still likely to be on the move to Team 18\/GM, but simply waiting until 2028.<\/p>\n

The proposed deal would see GM place Payne at its Supercars homologation team while also opening doors for him overseas.<\/p>\n

It emerged last week that GM had offered Payne NASCAR opportunities at Sonoma<\/a> later this month, which were blocked by the Grove team.<\/a><\/p>\n

That came amid what were believed to be ongoing efforts from manager Michael Patrizi to extricate Payne from his Grove contract a year early.<\/p>\n

Grove, which signed Payne as a junior in 2021, had stuck to its guns, adamant Payne would not be released.<\/p>\n

Payne\u2019s sudden statement pauses what could have proven a distracting saga, which first made headlines last December.<\/a><\/p>\n

It could also prove a reprieve for Team 18 incumbent David Reynolds, who is out of contract at the end of this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Payne. Image: Supplied The Kiwi has issued a statement confirming he\u2019ll see out his contract with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":743727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,14589,101818,806,805,803,804,12357,85],"class_list":["post-743726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-breaking","tag-matt-payne","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-slot1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}