A bitter blow struck Matt Payne in the sprint race at Bathurst, as his Grove Racing entry suffered an engine failure that wrecked his bid for the sprint cup title.
Payne entered the race with a 110-point lead and needed only to finish 17th to secure the crown. But while running fifth, an engine issue forced him to the garage halfway through the 200km contest.
The failure has put race leader Broc Feeney in the box seat to snatch the title, needing only to finish in the top three to seal the championship.
Payne initially remained in the car while the team tried to diagnose the problem, before conceding defeat. "It just sucks," Payne said. "I felt like we did everything right today. It might not have been the easiest day behind the wheel. But we had a good start and passed Chaz [Mostert] and were sitting in a nice window, just working together with Kai [Allen]. Next thing the motor just sounded like it had an electrical issue. I'm really gutted. I was looking forward to wrapping up the sprint championship but it is what it is."
Grove Racing CEO Brenton Grove described it as a bitter blow. "It's not fun. This is something we all put a lot of time and effort into and Matt's done a faultless job," Grove said. "Our mechanical reliability is probably one of the best in the lane and unfortunately today something has gone wrong. We had no warning before it happened. We'll lick our wounds and make sure we come back stronger."
Payne's failure was the second high-profile engine issue of the race, following an earlier failure for Chaz Mostert's Toyota Supra.
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