Matt Payne won Race 1 of the Perth Super440 at Wanneroo Raceway.
Payne survived a late-race restart at Wanneroo Raceway to beat Walkinshaw TWG Racing’s Ryan Wood and hard charger Anton De Pasquale for Team 18.
“It’s never nice when you have about eight laps to go and you’re going to be in a train again,” said Payne.
“Look, the #19 Penrite Racing Mustang was so fast today.
“It’s been good all qualifying and managed to get Cam early at the start and press on for the victory.”
Wood was happy to come away with a podium finish from fourth on the grid but conceded he couldn’t match Payne’s pace.
“I made it hard for myself,” said Wood.
“We had a few brake dramas going on, but man, that [Payne Mustang] is on another level.
“He’s so fast at the moment. I gave it my all. The next race will be hard from 11th, but I’m super proud of our guys and girls because yesterday we were a second off.
“To come back and fine-tune this car and put us in a podium position is a really proud moment.”
De Pasquale was an impressive third from ninth.
“Our car was quite good this morning on this tyre, we just mismanaged tyres and didn’t have a green set for the last run,” said the Team 18 drive.
“We thought we were a little bit out of position. But the race went our way, the car was really good, obviously not as good as a couple in front, but I was able to move forward, a few things went my way, so happy days.”
From the front row, Tickford Racing driver Cameron Waters got the jump from the cleaner side of the road and the holeshot into Turn 1. The same was true for Wood, who beat Thomas Randle into the first turn.
The other top 10 starters – Kai Allen, Andre Heimgartner, Rylan Gray, Brodie Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale and Cameron Hill – maintained position at the end of Lap 1.
The top five left Heimgartner to battle over sixth with Gray. The Brad Jones Racing Supra lost out to the Dick Johnson Racing Mustangs on Lap 4 and continued to haemorrhage position to De Pasquale and Hill on Lap 5.
Big, aggressive moves to start Race 23 in Perth!!
Catch all the action on the Live Feed: https://t.co/7dJ4PB7Dba #RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/M1lHOCmvwn
— Supercars (@supercars) August 1, 2026
At the front of the field, Payne made his move on Waters for the lead into the final turn on Lap 5. Wood followed Payne through to take second.
With such a strong exit, Wood nearly got by Payne – though the Grove Mustang covered aggressively on the run to the first turn.
Randle gifted third place to Allen when the Tickford Mustang got loose entering Turn 1.
By Lap 10, Payne and Wood skipped away from Waters. Kostecki was sixth and six seconds off the lead, heading a gaggle of cars that included De Pasquale, Mostert, Gray and Hill.
Having passed his teammate just a few laps prior, Feeney found himself in strife on Lap 18 when he got loose at Turn 5 and lost places to Brown and Reynolds. On the same lap, Allen passed Waters for third.
Kostecki was the first of the top 10 runners to pit out of sixth for three tyres on Lap 19.
By Lap 20, Payne led Wood to the tune of two seconds with Allen another two seconds back.
On Lap 21, Allen pitted and was followed in by Randle – each taking four tyres. Kostecki undercut Randle and rattled the rear dumper of Allen on the out-lap.
With warmer tyres, Kostecki got the better exit out of the final turn to take the position on Lap 24 entering Turn 1.
Mostert elected to take two tyres and executed a massive undercut on Kostecki to sit a projected third.
Wood pitted out of second on Lap 27 for four tyres. Payne and Waters responded a lap later to take tyres.
It was a brutal stop for Waters, who had an issue on the right rear wheels and lost positions hand over fist.
Once the pit stops cycled through, it was Payne who led Wood, Mostert, Kostecki, Allen, Randle, De Pasquale, Le Brocq, Heimgartner and Waters.
Allen struggled to make the most of his tyre advantage over Kostecki. Attack soon turned to defence as Randle put pressure on the Grove Mustang. That gave Kostecki a much-needed reprieve, albeit only brief.
Their battle brought De Pasquale into the picture. Over three laps they traded places, though it was De Pasquale who ultimately prevailed.
The battle between Kostecki and Allen finally came to a head on Lap 39 when the two Mustangs collided at Turn 1. Kostecki spun and got buried in the gravel trap, which brought out the Safety Car.
Allen gets into Kostecki and we have a Safety Car!!
Follow the Race 23 Live Feed here: https://t.co/Z3HQkmssbO #RepcoSC #Supercars pic.twitter.com/Gl0OhgWBzn
— Supercars (@supercars) August 1, 2026
That whittled Payne’s four-second lead over Wood down to nothing. Payne led his countryman to the race restart on Lap 44 for a dash to the chequered flag.
Randle was the biggest loser in the closing laps. He fell from sixth to ninth in the space of less than a lap as Waters, Heimgartner, and Feeney blew by.
With four laps to go, Waters, Allen and Mostert went three-wide out of Turn 6. Allen wound up worst off as Waters and Mostert got by.
At the head of the field, Payne was unchallenged. He came home three seconds clear of Wood while De Pasquale was third and up six places on where he started.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship Bosch Power Tools Perth Super440, Race 1
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Laps/Diff
Gap
1
19
Matthew Payne
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
50 laps
2
2
Ryan Wood
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
3.1782
3.1782
3
18
Anton De Pasquale
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
3.8666
0.6884
4
6
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
5.592
1.7254
5
1
Chaz Mostert
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
6.6264
1.0344
6
26
Kai Allen
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
7.1057
0.4793
7
88
Broc Feeney
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
7.4877
0.382
8
8
Andre Heimgartner
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
8.0338
0.5461
9
55
Thomas Randle
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
10.652
2.6182
10
38
Rylan Gray
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
11.0871
0.4351
11
4
Jack Le Brocq
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
12.9245
1.8374
12
888
William Brown
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
13.121
0.1965
13
99
Cooper Murray
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
13.266
0.145
14
14
Cameron Hill
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
13.7864
0.5204
15
7
James Golding
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
14.0836
0.2972
16
3
Aaron Cameron
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
14.4066
0.323
17
11
Jackson Walls
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
14.9774
0.5708
18
9
Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
15.2296
0.2522
19
20
David Reynolds
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
16.36
1.1304
20
31
Jayden Ojeda
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
16.4487
0.0887
21
777
Declan Fraser
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
16.8461
0.3974
22
10
Zach Bates
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
17.0092
0.1631
23
96
Macauley Jones
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
1 lap
1 lap
24
17
Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
3 laps
2 laps