Grove Racing wrote itself into the Supercars record book at Ruapuna on Sunday, converting a front-row lockout into the first one-two finish in the team's history as Matt Payne completed a back-to-back Kiwi double and 19-year-old Kai Allen recorded a breakthrough podium in his debut season as a full-time main-game driver.
The result capped two of the most transformative weeks Grove has ever enjoyed. Kai Allen banked his maiden Supercars victory at the same circuit on the Friday sprint, Matt Payne won Race 12 on Saturday, and on Sunday the pair rolled off the front row again, controlled the race from the front and hauled a beaming Kiwi crowd to its feet.
"We had a really good weekend. Had real fast cars. I knew that with the changes we've made overnight and qualifying this morning, the thing was obviously a jet again," Payne said in the post-race press conference. "I just knew that I had to execute on the performances and start on the front row and then get the start and then I knew that we could race away from there."
Payne closed the weekend by pocketing the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy for the most consistent performer across the NZ double-header, although Broc Feeney's Triple Eight ultimately claimed the overall Jason Richards silverware on countback. The question now hanging over Supercars' established powers was whether Grove has arrived a full year ahead of schedule.
"Oh, 100 percent," Payne said when asked whether Grove could mount a teams' championship tilt. "For Kai and I, I think it's mostly just about trying to perform consistently and also rolling out with good, strong cars helps, you know, for this weekend as an example. So, yeah, I think we're really firing really well at the moment. It's really cool to see everyone working together so well and we just need to keep chipping away at it."
Payne was equally complimentary about the young team-mate who had matched him on pace all weekend long, and paid tribute to the wider Grove operation that turned fast cars into a historic result.
"We had just two really fast cars. That's all it really comes down to. Great team execution, and I'm really stoked for the whole team to be able to give them this result. I think they all deserve it from all the hard work they put in."
"He's too fast. I got on the gas out the last corner and he pulled away. So, I was like, 'Oh, well, there you go,'" Allen said of the decisive final restart. "At the end of the day, he was fast all race and he deserved that win. I was pretty happy in second there."
The Kiwi rookie was quick to tip his cap to the senior side of the Grove garage, and admitted that Payne had become something of an on-track tutor.
"Learning off Maddie, he was doing a great job this weekend. I really learned a lot from him. The car just suited our driving style and this track. I'm super grateful for the car I had this weekend. It was definitely really fast. It wasn't easy to drive, but at the same time, it generated lap speed. So, we just had to work out how to nurse it around this pretty cool tight track."
Allen also underlined the adversity Grove has weathered to produce its first one-two. The team lost a key staff member before Taupo and the last fortnight has had to double as a rebuilding exercise as much as a race campaign.
"Taupo was a bit of a rebuilding round. We obviously lost a key person in our team, but that didn't stop us. We really got around each other, and I think everyone every single person in the team stepped up to another level."
The sheer symbolism of the result was not lost on a paddock that has watched the Grove family invest heavily in the squad over the past two seasons with stated designs on taking down the established Triple Eight and Penrite powerhouses. A maiden team one-two, delivered by a rookie and the reigning Bathurst winner on Kiwi soil in front of a sold-out grandstand, is exactly the statement moment the investment was chasing.
The Supercars Championship now returns across the Tasman, with Payne insisting the work is only beginning. Taupo and Christchurch produced the spark. Tailem Bend, Perth and Darwin will decide whether it becomes a genuine title assault.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/grove-racing-first-1-2-in-history-payne-allen-ruapuna-sunday-2026). Visit for full coverage.*
