RX8 brilliance from Paine

In the inaugural Formula RX8 championship, youngster Brock Paine prevailed in what was a highly competitive series, which contained plenty of door-to-door action.

The Queenslander set out with the target of taking the title in 2024 and achieved his goal, he expressed the relief he feels now it is wrapped up.

“I wanted to win the championship, but it was definitely a tight one with a lot of lot of competition and a lot of pressure,” Paine explained.

“Weight lifted on my shoulders when we did secure it, because you get down to those last few rounds, and it gets quite tight. Fantastic to be the winner of Formula RX8, couldn't be happier.

“It was great to enjoy that moment at the end with all my family. Dad, Mum and my Stepdad travelled to every meeting, so to have them experience that with us was great.

“Everyone at the TFH Hire team, they've been fantastic to us all year, preparing the cars and crewing there at the track, definitely couldn't have done it without them.”

Paine may have won 11 of the 23 races and finished inside the top three in all but two, however his season long rival Rob Boaden was just as consistent. As a result, the title fight went right down to the final round.

All season the two were locked in combat, but throughout, the racing remained clean, fair and the pair gained huge respect for one another.

“The battles Rob and myself had were the best I've had in my motorsport career so far, great respect on and off the track,” he said.

“I think every meeting, every race, we were side-by-side at some point and never made contact. I think that just speaks for itself, it was fantastic to race him.”

At One Raceway, the final round, with the title on the line, Paine selflessly gave Boaden spare parts to allow his championship rival to continue competing that weekend. Paine shrugged it off, saying that others would have done the same.

“We all helped each other when we needed it, that's the beauty of the Formula RX8 category,” he highlighted. “Everyone wants to help out, get everyone on the track, that's what a lot of categories should be like.”

Over the course of the season there were five winners, Paine, Boaden, Steve Devjak, Thomas Derwent and Geoff Connell.

Despite the competitiveness mid-season Paine put together a remarkable run of nine straight race wins.

“That started at Queensland Raceway where we clean swept the round, my home track, that was pretty cool in front of my friends,” he recalled.

“Then we continued that form into The Bend, clean swept that round as well, which was unreal, because that was my first time at the Bend, I absolutely loved that track.

“Then came into Winton, the times were a lot closer, more of a short a shorter track, brought everyone together.

“By the time we got to the end of the season, the top five were extremely close, which is great to see.”

Each round Formula RX8 runs an inverted grid race in which the top 10 from the previous race are inverted. Paine believes that these inverted grid races were crucial to his championship success.

“What I really focused on in the last few years of my driving is the race craft, keeping it nice and clean as we did in all those reverse grid races, there was never any contact,” he said.

“I just focused on trying to get the best start I possibly could make up a few positions there, then, once you settle in a rhythm, you can just pick one off at a time.

“I think that's where we gained a lot of points on Rob, the point system was so tight with only one point advantage for each position. So, getting those few cars between us really made a difference in the championship outcome.”

Going into the final round Paine had a nice championship points lead, however one slip up and the title would have slipped from his grasp.

“It was the first round where I actually started to think about the championship, whereas in the previous rounds, I'd just drove as hard as I could,” Paine said.

“When you start thinking about the championship, you think should I drive at eight-tenths, or should I just put around and just finish, but that plays with the head more.

“So I just put that aside and just raced as I had raced the last five rounds before that, it seemed to work. I knew racing Rob we were never going to have any dramas.

“I just kept it clean and got it done, which is amazing.”