MATT Payne has been largely impressive in the early stages of his rookie Repco Supercars Championship campaign but the Kiwi admits he got it wrong in Darwin.
It comes as Grove Racing has suddenly hit a shocking slump the past two rounds at Symmons Plains and Hidden Valley.
After the Perth SuperSprint, Grove sat third in the teams’ championship, best of all Ford squads.
Now they’re 10th, having managed a mere 394 points across the past two race meetings.
To put that into context, no other multi-car team’s lead garage has scored less than 530 points in that span; Red Bull Ampol Racing meanwhile has amounted a category-best 910 points in the same period.
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At the Darwin Triple Crown, Reynolds qualified 23rd, 22nd and 19th for respective race results of 20th, 22nd and 12th.
For Payne, the story was better in qualifying and worse in racing: starts of 14th, 11th and 21st into finishes of 19th, 23rd and 25th.
Payne’s Sunday was particularly affected by a series of incidents.
In the day’s earlier race, Payne tangled with Declan Fraser, running off and sustaining a rear-left puncture that forced him to pit at the end of Lap 1. The matter was declared a racing incident.
A late-race incident also brought Reynolds unstuck when Nick Percat spun him at Turn 6 in their battle for 10th.
In the event finale, Payne copped a five-second penalty for “careless driving” after making contact with Jack Smith.
“First time for me in Darwin, I certainly had more downs than ups,” Payne reflected.
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“Really enjoyed being here in Darwin, I think the city is awesome, the track is cool as it has good flow.
“I just didn’t quite get it right this weekend until maybe in the final race but I struggled and made some silly decisions.
“Just need to look over it and see what we can do better for the next one.”
Next up on the calendar is the Townsville 500 on July 7-9.
