Matt Payne claimed pole position for the Sandown 500 on Sunday, 8 November 2026, delivering a dominant performance to secure the top spot on the grid for the final 250km race at Sandown International Motor Raceway.
Driving the #19 Grove Racing Ford Mustang GT, Payne clocked a 1:08.110s lap during the Top 10 Shootout to edge out Anton De Pasquale of Team 18. De Pasquale, piloting a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, finished second with a time of 1:08.2105, trailing Payne by 0.1001 seconds. The result marks Payne’s ninth pole position of the campaign, leaving only Brodie Kostecki as a mathematical contender to surpass his tally with three races remaining before the Adelaide Grand Final.
Payne Dominates Qualifying Sessions
Payne’s pole position was underpinned by a record-breaking performance earlier in the qualifying session. During the second phase of qualifying, he set a new Gen3 qualifying lap record of 1m07.8859s, surpassing the previous record of 1m08.2772s established by Jack Le Brocq in 2024. Payne’s speed throughout the session provided him with a significant advantage, as he led the second phase by 0.2040s over De Pasquale.
Reflecting on his performance, Payne credited overnight engineering adjustments for his success.
“We made a couple of changes overnight just for the soft tyre and it seems to have been in the right direction. It’s not easy. You don’t want to mess it up. It’s hard around here because there are so many spots you absolutely need to nail, especially with the kerbs.”
Payne said. He added that the crew provided a “great car” to facilitate the result. Payne also noted his confidence in converting his pace from previous days into his current grid advantage.Championship Contenders Face Grid Struggles
While Payne heads to the front, several championship contenders face difficult starting positions for Sunday’s race. Broc Feeney managed to climb from 10th to sixth in the Shootout to secure a competitive slot, while Chaz Mostert will start from the sixth row after qualifying 11th.
In contrast, Cam Waters and Will Brown face significant challenges to their championship hopes. Waters, who entered Sunday fifth in the Finals standings, struggled in the second phase of qualifying and will start 18th. Waters attributed the lack of pace to tyre performance, stating, We were okay when we put the first green [new] tyre on. We were pretty competitive and then that last set was really weird. Just didn’t switch on.
Top 10 Shootout Results
The final grid for the top ten positions is as follows:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew Payne | Grove Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:08.1104 |
| 2 | Anton De Pasquale | Team 18 | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:08.2105 |
| 3 | Cooper Murray | PremiAir Racing | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:08.3096 |
| 4 | Brodie Kostecki | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:08.3862 |
| 5 | Zach Bates | Matt Stone Racing | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:08.4337 |
| 6 | Broc Feeney | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang GT | 1:08.4954 |
| 7 | Kai Allen | Grove Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:08.5484 |
| 8 | Andre Heimgartner | Brad Jones Racing | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 1:08.6304 |
| 9 | Thomas Randle | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:08.8792 |
| 10 | James Golding | Blanchard Racing Team | Ford Mustang GT | 1:08.9849 |
The Penrite Oil Sandown 500 is scheduled to begin at 3:30pm AEDT on Sunday, 8 November 2026.