GROVE Racing has switched its driver pairings for the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Aussie Porsche factory ace Matt Campbell will now share with David Reynolds in the team’s #26 Penrite Mustang, having previously been announced as joining Lee Holdsworth in car #10.
Grove’s Super2 prodigy Matt Payne meanwhile switches to the #10 car alongside Holdsworth, who the young Kiwi appears set to replace on a full-time basis next year.
ONE SEAT LEFT! Updated 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000 driver pairings
The original pairings had been announced by team owner Stephen Grove on the Supercars website in May, but have been switched ahead of this weekend’s additional driver practice session at Sandown.
Payne, 19, has been entered for the session in car #10 while the German-based Campbell will be absent.
Campbell has three Bathurst 1000 starts to his name, including with the Grove squad last year, and won the Bathurst 12 Hour for Porsche in 2019.
“I’m very excited to be co-driving with Dave this year for Penrite Racing,” said Campbell.
“He has won the race before and is always quick at Mount Panorama, so I just want to help put him in the best position possible to be at the pointy end late in the race and pay back the Grove’s for this opportunity.
“Bathurst is a race that carries so much credibility overseas, winning the 12 Hour was a real highlight but winning the 1000 is something I’d really love to achieve in my career.”
Payne currently sits third in the Dunlop Super2 Series – which will also be in action this weekend at Sandown and at Bathurst in October – and is preparing for his Great Race debut.
“Racing in the Bathurst 1000 has been a dream of mine since I started racing karts in New Zealand,” he said
“It will be a big weekend doubling up with Super2 as well. I look forward to doing the best I can and working with Lee to do a solid job for Penrite Racing.”
Holdsworth is a reigning winner of the Bathurst 1000 having triumphed as Chaz Mostert’s co-driver at Walkinshaw Andretti United last December.
Reynolds won the Great Race for Erebus Motorsport in 2017 alongside Luke Youlden, who does not have a co-drive this year having been left out of the Grove line-up.