IT was another weekend to forget for Grove Racing as far as race results go, but there was a silver lining to its Townsville 500 campaign.
All told, neither David Reynolds nor Matt Payne recorded a finish of better than 15th but for Payne, he impressively ticked off a career-first.
That being his maiden Top 10 Shootout berth, which he secured in just his third opportunity.
Payne starred with second in Saturday qualifying; he slid to seventh by the end of the Shootout but that did little to take the shine off the occasion for the 20-year-old.
“I was less nervous before the Top 10 Shootout than I was before quali,” he said.
“I was just enjoying it, first one, I was happy to finish anywhere inside the top 10.
“But first Shootout, it was awesome having the track to yourself.”
The limelight then shifted to Reynolds, who put his #26 Penrite Mustang on the front row and appeared to be in contention for a podium before fading late.
“I just got bashed into after the last Safety Car and it destroyed my rear which took all of the rear downforce and it sent me back to 21st. We had an awesome day except for the last 16 laps,” Reynolds explained of his Saturday in Townsville.
Flashes of pace still gave the Ford squad cause for optimism.
“It was a tough weekend. I think we showed our potential in qualifying though and with Dave’s race pace on Saturday I think the car is there, we just need to find it and make better decisions for our race set-up because that’s where we’re struggling,” said Payne.
“We had a bit better a weekend than we had in Darwin,” he added.
“We’re going to do our homework on the race set-up and try to find some speed at Sydney.”
Sydney Motorsport Park hosts Round 7 of the Repco Supercars Championship on July 28-30.
