HISTORY was made on the Sunday of the ITM Taupō Super400, as Matt Payne and Broc Feeney combined for the youngest front row in ATCC/Supercars Championship history.
The Grove Racing and Triple Eight young guns made for an average age of 21 years and 193 days on the front row, comfortably eclipsing the category record that had stood for nearly nine years.
With the guidance of V8 Sleuth stats guru Shane Rogers, we run through the all-time top five – all of which have occurred in roughly the past decade amid a changing of the guard or two.
First: 2024 Taupō Race 2, Matt Payne and Broc Feeney (average 21y 193d)
Payne and Feeney had each chalked up multiple front-row starts beforehand, but never together. The duo will both celebrate their respective 22nd birthdays this October.
They had to settle for fourth and second by the end of this race, as Will Brown grabbed a stunning victory.
Second: 2015 Townsville Race 2, Scott McLaughlin and Chaz Mostert (average 22y 244d)
The previous record belonged to former Super2 rivals McLaughlin and Mostert, when they were at Garry Rogers Motorsport and Tickford Racing respectively.
As proved the case with Payne and Feeney at Taupō, neither would be at the head of the field by the end of the race.
Mark Winterbottom instead took victory as Mostert placed sixth and polesitter McLaughlin was a non-finisher thanks to engine trouble.
Third: 2014 Winton Race 3, Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen (average 22y 316d)
McLaughlin, together with compatriot van Gisbergen, had set the benchmark before that in the 2014 Winton finale.
Coincidentally, this race win also went to Winterbottom, with SVG and McLaughlin 12th and 16th at the chequered flag.
Fourth: 2016 Perth Race 1, Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert (average 22y 335d)
This race was memorable for another reason: Craig Lowndes’ charge to victory aided by a bold strategy call.
But it was also significant as Tickford’s next-gen stars came to the fore, led by rookie Waters (then aged 22) who claimed the first pole position of his main game career. He now has 24.
Fifth: 2023 Perth Race 3, Broc Feeney and Brodie Kostecki (average 23y 4d)
Bucking the trend, this was a race where Feeney converted pole into victory ahead of Erebus duo Brown and Kostecki.
That result also broke the record for the youngest podium in history – which has since been beaten again, when Feeney, Brown and Payne shared the rostrum last month at Albert Park.
