Payne and teammate Richie Stanaway failed to make the top 15 in any of the dry-weather sessions across the three days.

The only highlight was Saturday morning’s practice, where Stanaway’s wet weather skills shone through to top the session, while Payne was ninth.

“It wasn’t a very good weekend for us,” team principal David Cauchi surmised to Speedcafe.

“We really didn’t execute any of the sessions that mattered, really.

“There’s some positives in race pace, which are probably hard to see when you’re so far back, but we showed there is some race pace there.

“So we need to understand that and try and work out what’s happening in qualifying because you’re not going to win many races starting from P17.”

The results were not entirely a surprise given that the Grove cars had also struggled at Hidden Valley, the only other round to date run on the super soft tyre that will also appear at Sandown.

Symmons had also been a struggle for the Penrite Mustangs in 2023, although that came as part of a larger battle amid parity issues and the team’s own development. 

“There’s a lot of information to analyse, it’s too early to say exactly what it is but we’ll definitely have to go and work that out before our test day in a couple of weeks time,” Cauchi added.

“You could say it’s something to do with the super soft tyre, but this is also a very unique circuit. We need to understand what’s going on.”

Payne retains fifth in the standings despite the lacklustre weekend, but is now 561 adrift of leader Will Brown.

“It’s hard for Matt, it’s hard for the entire team when you’ve had a few good races on the trot, some podiums and a win,” said Cauchi.

“This is such a tough sport. We saw Nick Percat won the [Saturday] race and then qualified last [Sunday], I don’t know what went on there.

“But it’s such a competitive, humbling sport at the moment. One day you’re a hero and the next you’re zero. This weekend was pretty close to zero for us.

“That’s sport. We go back home, pick ourselves up, work through it and come back fighting for Sandown.”

Stanaway is 14th in the standings and will not continue with the team next season following a decision to sign reigning Super2 Series winner Kai Allen.