Dominant Payne wins Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy

The 2021 Castrol Toyota Racing Series has drawn to its conclusion, with newly crowned champion Matthew Payne claiming his fifth win of the season.

Losing the day’s earlier race after picking up pair of five-second time penalties, Payne was faultless in his light’s-to-flag domination of the Denny Hulme Memorial Trophy race at Manfeild.

He led home Billy Frazer by 17.616s, an utter crushing way to bow out to the series before switching his attention to the Porsche Carrera Cup in Australia.

Payne now ends the season with a perfect podium record, finishing inside the top-three in every race. His average finishing position is an incredible 1.7, while his qualifying average is 2.8.

“That was pretty cool,” Payne said. “I got a good start and put my head down, and that was it.

“The car got a little bit loose towards the end, but the pace was unreal and the car was on rails.”

Payne’s massive winning advantage was helped by preserving a set of new tyres for the feature race.

Frazer did look to put some pressure on Payne through the opening lap. Fresh from his maiden win in the day’s earlier race, the Pukekohe driver got a strong launch to elevate himself from fourth to second.

However, Payne’s pace was too strong, and Frazer was left to run the rest of the race in second. He led home Conrad Clark to round out the rostrum.

“I’m a little bit hot after that,” said Frazer. “It is awesome to finish the championship on a high like that.

“It has definitely been challenging but I think the results this season has proven just how far we have come. So, really happy to finish like this.”

Frazer will depart to the United States next month to begin his preparations for his USF2000 season.

Clark was able to sneak into third after Peter Vodanovich made a mistake while attempting an overtake on Frazer.

“This weekend, everything has just come together,” Clark said. “The previous rounds we have seemed to struggle in one area or another.

“So, I was a lot happier this weekend with how the car is going and I have always loved being on this track.”

After battling for fifth in the race’s early stages, Chris Vlok slipped off the tail of the field and came home 12s behind Kaleb Ngatoa.

TRS points after nine races

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