Stephen Grove believes the timing is perfect for Matthew Payne’s step up into the Repco Supercars Championship with his team.
Earlier this week, Grove Racing confirmed its 2023 full-time driver line-up, with David Reynolds and Payne taking the reins of its Ford Mustangs next year.
Payne’s graduation from the Dunlop Super2 Series to the main game aligns with the introduction of Supercars’ Gen3 ruleset.
Grove believes it offers a “clean slate” to bring a rookie into the championship.
“The advantage we probably have, if it is an advantage, is that no one’s driven the Gen3, other than the testing that’s been done,” the team owner told Speedcafe.com.
“[It would be a challenge] if we were going straight back to a Gen2 car against the other 25 drivers that have all been driving them for the last six years.
“Now he’s in a car that nobody’s driven, so he’s sort of got a clean slate.
“I think that’s a great time to bring him into the series.”
Payne has been earmarked by the Groves as a future Supercars Championship driver for some time now.
The 19-year-old has cut his teeth in Super2, currently third in the standings, having also completed GT races this year including the 24 Hours of Spa.
The New Zealander previously told this website he is backing himself for any challenge that comes his way in the Supercars next year.
Grove is confident in his junior driver’s ability to get up to speed.
“The two things that really stand out is the length of races that are a lot longer, so you need to concentrate for a lot longer,” explained Grove.
“You need to be focused mentally and physically for the longer races.
“The other thing is just how competitive it is; you’ve got 25 competitive cars, it doesn’t matter where you are on the grid.
“[It’s an] extremely competitive series, where some of the racing that he’s come from, if you look at Super2 it’s probably the top 10 that can be competitive.
“So it’s that ability to be able to maintain a competitive edge against 25 other cars [in Supercars].”
Payne will partner Lee Holdsworth at next weekend’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
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