Matt Stone Racing leaves the Perth Super 400 with mixed fortunes after Round 8 of the 2026 Supercars Championship, taking away valuable championship points while identifying qualifying performance as a key area for improvement heading into the final rounds of the Sprint Cup. Jack Le Brocq once again demonstrated strong race pace to secure consistent finishes and maintain his position inside the top 10 of the Drivers’ Championship, while rookie Zach Bates endured a challenging weekend as he continued his development in the Gen3 Camaro. With the Finals cut-off rapidly approaching, the team’s focus now turns to analysing the data, improving one-lap pace and arriving at Queensland Raceway ready to fight for crucial championship points.
The No.4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro showed encouraging pace throughout the weekend, narrowly missing the Top 10 in qualifying before converting solid race speed into consistent results. Le Brocq crossed the line in P11 in Race 23, followed by P13 in Race 24 and P15 in Race 25, collecting valuable points to hold onto P10 in the Drivers’ Championship. While qualifying remains an area the team is continuing to refine, the ability to race consistently in the highly competitive midfield proved a positive takeaway from the Perth weekend.
On the other side of the garage, the No.10 Bendix Racing Camaro experienced a more difficult outing, with qualifying proving a major hurdle across the weekend. Starting further back in such a tightly contested field made it difficult for Bates to move forward in the races, with a pair of penalties compounding the challenge as he finished P22 in all three races. Despite the disappointing results, the rookie will take the learnings into this week’s Rookie Test before the team regroups ahead of Queensland Raceway, with a continued focus on building confidence and extracting more speed from the Gen3 package for the remainder of his debut season.
We’ll head back to the workshop and reassess ahead of the Ipswich Super 440 in a few short weeks time – a local round for our Gold Coast based team.
QUOTES
Matt Stone
Team Owner, Matt Stone Racing
“It was a bit of a mixed bag for us in Perth. Jack showed some promising speed across the weekend, while Zach unfortunately had a case of the rookie blues and found himself on the back foot after some difficult qualifying sessions. Qualifying pace has been an area we’ve been chasing over the last few rounds, and Perth reinforced that it’s something we need to keep digging into as a team. With the Finals cut-off fast approaching, our priority is keeping Jack inside the Top 10 in the Drivers’ Championship while continuing to build Zach’s confidence in the Gen3 car as he works through his rookie season. We’ll review the data, keep working hard, and turn our attention to QR in a few weeks’ time.”
Jack Le Brocq
Driver, No.4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro
“It was overall a solid weekend for the No.4 Sherrin Rentals Camaro – we were just on the wrong side of the Top Ten in qualifying for all three races, but the race pace itself was strong and we managed to come away with some solid points. The field is so incredibly close at the moment, especially with the Sprint Cup and Finals cut-off fast approaching, so every position gained or lost is critical. We managed to hold on to P10 in the Drivers’ Championship, but we know there’s still a bit of work to do to find that extra speed over a single lap heading into QR in a few weeks time.
Zach Bates
Driver, No.10 Bendix Racing Camaro
“It was a bit of a weekend to forget for the No.10 Bendix Racing Camaro. We struggled to find the pace in qualifying, and with how competitive the field is at the moment, that made it really difficult to make ground in the races, especially with a couple of penalties thrown into the mix. We’ll take what we’ve learned into our last test day later this week and go back to the drawing board ahead of Round 9 at Queensland Raceway. A huge thank you to the whole Matt Stone Racing crew and all of our team sponsors for their continued support—it was awesome to see so many of you in the garage in Perth cheering us on.”
