{"id":501194,"date":"2026-06-29T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/501194\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:30:15","slug":"supercars-news-david-cauchi-reacts-to-on-matt-payne-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/501194\/","title":{"rendered":"Supercars news: David Cauchi reacts to on Matt Payne saga"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ex-Grove
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMatt Payne has been the headline act of the silly season. Image: InSyde Media<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

The Kiwi\u2019s future has been the subject of speculation since late last year when it became clear he was a key target for General Motors and its homologation squad Team 18.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s well-known there were behind-the-scenes moves to try and facilitate a switch as early as next year, despite Payne being contracted to Grove Racing until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

It is believed that a primary motivator for a GM move is opportunities overseas, with talk of potential programs in both the World Endurance Championship and NASCAR.<\/p>\n

The matter came to a head earlier this month when Payne was offered a one-off GM-supported NASCAR appearance which was blocked by the Ford-shod Grove outfit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Payne then publicly confirmed that he \u201cexpects\u201d to stay with Grove Racing for next season<\/a> in the lead-up to the Darwin Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

That delays the still-expected move to Team 18 to 2028 at the earliest.<\/p>\n

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Appearing on the latest episode of The Lucky Dogs podcast, former Grove team principal David Cauchi, who left the team at the end of last season, weighed in on the matter.<\/p>\n

Cauchi played a critical role in Payne\u2019s rapid development, overseeing the team that has helped him to Supercars stardom for the first three seasons of his main game career.<\/p>\n

According to Cauchi, honouring the contract is the right thing for Payne to do before he explores opportunities outside of Grove Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the question is, what does Matt want to do? Because it\u2019s his career at the end of the day,\u201d said Cauchi.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll have people advising him that might have their own agendas and I just hope that whatever Matt decides, it\u2019s because that\u2019s what Matt wants and that\u2019s what\u2019s right for Matt.<\/p>\n

The fallout from Matt Payne\u2019s 2027 contract declaration<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if he wants to go and race in WEC full-time, and he can get a contract and someone wants to put him in one of those cars, then at some point he can go off and do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a bit silly all this stuff that\u2019s come out. It\u2019s not in Matt\u2019s character. And it\u2019s probably more to do with people in the background on Matt\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a real shame if he doesn\u2019t continue [with Grove Racing] because the Groves have invested a lot in him. We took a lot of risk with him as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd don\u2019t get me wrong, Matt\u2019s paid it back. He\u2019s a great guy and he\u2019s a great talent. I\u2019d like to see him win a championship in Supercars before he goes off [overseas].<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s got the right to [leave]. I mean I left, but I had a contract and I gave my notice and I went about it the right way.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf [drivers] have an ambition to go and race in NASCAR or any other championship around the world, then of course you guys can go and do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel you should fulfil your contractual obligations that you\u2019ve signed up for and then move on when the time is right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Payne has been the headline act of the silly season. Image: InSyde Media The Kiwi\u2019s future has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28872,28873,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-501194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-grove-racing","tag-matt-payne","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501194","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=501194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}