GROVE Racing young gun Matt Payne has been one of the revelations of the 2023 Supercars season but he’s not satisfied yet.
The Kiwi has calmly settled in at main game level and been particularly strong in qualifying trim.
He had qualified inside the top eight on four successive occasions before mucking up in the final grid-setting session in Perth.
Nevertheless, his qualifying record stacks up well against fellow rookies Declan Fraser (Tickford Racing) and Cameron Hill (Matt Stone Racing), who have just one top 15 start between them all season long.
“I don’t really see myself as a rookie,” Payne told V8 Sleuth.
“I’m just so focused on the job, I’m just trying to get some results of where we deserve.
“It has been good so far so we just need to keep building.”
Now Payne has his sights set on inching closer to experienced teammate David Reynolds, whose 2023 record boasts two front-row starts and two podiums.
Grove Racing deployed Reynolds during Friday practice at the Perth SuperSprint to run directly ahead of Payne to get him up to speed.
“It’s awesome to have Dave as a benchmark because I always know when we roll out of the truck on Friday, first lap he is always fast,” said Payne.
“It doesn’t take him two laps to get into it and it’s awesome to be able to have someone to see ‘he’s braking later here or he’s doing something here’. He’s a really good driver.
“It is a competition; I’m always trying to get as close as I can if not better.
“I’m slowly closing the gap, I think it will be pretty even in the next few rounds.
“We have just got to keep working on it and just keep pushing.”
Reynolds leads the head-to-head qualifying stakes 6-3 and is slightly ahead on average starting position (9.8 versus 11.1).
The Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint forms Round 4 of the Repco Supercars Championship this weekend.
V8 Sleuth’s coverage of the 2023 NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint is proudly presented by ACL RACE Series – Proudly manufactured in Australia for over 70 years. Visit ACL Performance online here to check out more on the ACL RACE Series.
