Payne’s performance a winner

Matt Payne is Kiwi motorsport hero of the moment following his fine victory at Bathurst last weekend, but it could so easily have been Ryan Wood.

As usual, I followed Australia’s Great Race with reasonable interest without devoting all my Sunday afternoon and early evening to proceedings.

Starting on the second row or grid, moving into the top three an hour in and hitting the lead not long after half-distance, Wood and his co-driver Jayden Ojeda were a class act until the engine of their Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford Mustang failed barely a dozen laps from the end.

Enter Payne and his multi-Bathurst-winning co-driver Garth Tander. The duo had qualified disappointingly back on the ninth row of the grid, but I noticed them creeping up the field over the first 70-odd laps and move themselves into the top three shortly thereafter, before later hitting the front.

Sharing the driving of the Grove Racing Mustang with such an experienced campaigner was certainly a help for Payne given the wet conditions that predominated, but his own performance behind the wheel was outstanding. This was Payne’s fourth attempt at Bathurst and his second teamed up with Tander and winning for the first time was something special.

Victory at Bathurst also sees Payne close to within striking distance of series leader Broc Feeny in the Supercars championship standings; 56 points separate the two drivers with three race weekends and seven races to go. You’d still have to pick Feeny (sixth at Bathurst) as favourite given his earlier dominance in the shorter "sprint" races that also feature over the remainder of the series, but he’s no-longer a shoo-in for the crown.

As Payne raced to Bathurst glory it was great to see Liam Lawson there at the Mount Panorama circuit, even if as a guest rather than competitor. Taking time out between the Singapore Grand Prix and this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, Lawson was understandably thrilled at Payne’s win; unlikely as it may seem, he and Payne grew up on the same street in Pukekohe. They also raced against each other in karts, both went on to win New Zealand Toyota Racing Series within two years of each other and they have basically been lifelong mates.

Hopefully, Lawson can take inspiration from his friend’s Bathurst success to the Lone Star State this weekend.

Another piece of exciting news — as yet unconfirmed but widely tipped — is that a two-times world champion will be gracing the grid of this summer’s New Zealand Toyota Formula Regional Oceania series (the Toyota Racing Series as was).

That driver is double-world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera who, at 25 years of age, has announced he is pulling the plug on rallying for Toyota to go single-seater racing. What is already confirmed is that the Finn will contest next year’s Japanese Super Formula Championship as a stepping stone on what he hopes will be a rapid pathway to Formula One.

Given that he is relatively old to be embarking on a crack at F1, Rovanpera needs to advance through the junior formula in double-quick time. I sure he’ll have the raw talent and experience with the car set-up needed to set quick laps times, but learning race craft will be more of a challenge. Without exception, those drivers on the current F1 grid have been engaged in the cut-and-thrust of wheel-to-wheel circuit racing continuously since they were kids, starting off in karts, and then moving through the ranks. Rovanpera did actually start his motorsport career racing karts as a junior, but he switched to rallying aged just 10.

That’s why contesting the New Zealand Toyota Formula Regional Oceania series as a precursor to his Japanese championship bid makes a lot of sense.

For now, I am keeping my fingers crossed in term of a New Zealand campaign coming to fruition, as rumoured.

Finally, and on a more trivial note, I was amused by (or maybe bemused by) the recent article on a well-respected New Zealand news website about New Zealand’s wealthiest sportspeople.

Ordered by earnings, the list predictably opened with basketballer Stephen Adams and footballer Chris Wood. Then boxer Joe Parker, a slew of golfers and — a clear tier down — the top earners from rugby, rugby league, sailing and cricket.

The sole motorsport identity mentioned was Liam Lawson, and only in the context of his estimated $NZ1 million in earnings not being enough to make it on to the list. Sorry folks, Liam Lawson is not motor racing’s top-earning Kiwi.

Right now, that would be Shane van Gisbergen, whose estimated earnings from NASCAR this year are in the range of $NZ9m to $NZ12m. Behind him is Scott Dixon, with estimated annual earnings of $NZ6m to $NZ8m in the past year.

So SVG is clearly above Parker and our highest-earning golfers annually and Dixon just above them (and with far greater career earnings). On an annual basis, Dixon’s Indycar fellow driver Scott McLaughlin also earns over $NZ5m a year.

Dixon, of course, has been a high earner for years.

His estimated net worth is almost certainly higher than any Kiwi sportsperson other than Adams, and quite possibly on a par with that of the basketballer.