{"id":388913,"date":"2026-04-20T15:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388913\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T15:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:39:18","slug":"supercars-news-points-penalty-costs-grove-racing-pit-lane-pole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388913\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: Points penalty costs Grove Racing pit lane pole"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Supercars-Christchurch-Sunday-161-copy.jpg\" alt=\"Points penalty costs Grove Racing pit lane pole\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKai Allen ahead of Broc Feeney during the Christchurch Super440 at Ruapuna. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n<p>The team entered the first leg of the New Zealand double header second in the standings, but a difficult weekend in Taupo dropped them back to third place behind Walkinshaw TWG Racing.<\/p>\n<p>Walkinshaw, meanwhile, rocketed from sixth to second in points between Taupo and Christchurch.<\/p>\n<p>Kai Allen won the opening race on Friday afternoon at Ruapuna, while Payne dropped to fourth in the opening lap phantom safety car incident.<\/p>\n<p>At least one Grove Racing car visited the podium in each of the four races at Ruapuna, which elevated the team back to second in the standings.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fcttn.com\/products\/v8s-in-nz-tee\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/speedcafe.b-cdn.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3-1.webp\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The only blot on the team\u2019s copy book was Payne\u2019s right rear wheel parting company in the closing of the Saturday opener, which dropped him to a lowly 19th place finish.<\/p>\n<p>The loose wheel resulted in Grove Racing being slapped with a 30-point teams\u2019 championship penalty.<\/p>\n<p>Payne\u2019s flawless performances in Saturday\u2019s second race and on Sunday afternoon, combined with Walkinshaw\u2019s tough end to the weekend still kept the team ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Heading into Round 5 at Symmons Plains, Grove Racing sit just 10 points behind Triple Eight for the teams\u2019 championship lead.<\/p>\n<p>Supercars teams\u2019 championship standings after Round 4 (Christchurch Super440)<\/p>\n<p>1. Triple Eight \u2013 1557<br \/>2. Grove Racing \u2013 1547 (up one position)<br \/>3. Walkinshaw TWG Racing \u2013 1291 (down one)<br \/>4. Tickford Racing \u2013 1249<br \/>5. Dick Johnson Racing \u2013 1234<br \/>6. Team 18 \u2013 1091<br \/>7. Blanchard Racing Team \u2013 992<br \/>8. Matt Stone Racing \u2013 976<br \/>9. Brad Jones Racing (#8 &amp; #14) \u2013 863<br \/>10. PremiAir Racing \u2013 735<br \/>11. Erebus Motorsport \u2013 550<br \/>12. Brad Jones Racing (#96) \u2013 330<br \/>13. Objective Racing \u2013 250<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.cfjump.com\/92797\/b\/250635\" rel=\"nofollow sponsored noopener\" data-bid=\"1\" data-no-instant=\"1\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/250635.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kai Allen ahead of Broc Feeney during the Christchurch Super440 at Ruapuna. Image: InSyde Media The team entered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28872,111,139,69,213,217],"class_list":{"0":"post-388913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-grove-racing","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-supercars"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}