The New Zealander was officially classified third in Race 3 of the season at Albert Park, having taken the chequered flag in fourth position after qualifying fifth and running anywhere from third to – momentarily – seventh in the 18-lap encounter.
His experience was hardly unusual, with Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, for example, hauling his way back from 13th to fifth on the road at the chequered flag after his Mobil 1 Optus Mustang was pushed wide by Nick Percat in an early scrap over fourth spot.
The chopping and changing of positions came despite Supercars’ relegation from Albert Park’s second pit lane to an infield paddock – despite Formula 2 not using said lane in its races – preventing CPSs and also despite the relative dearth of hard braking zones around what is a 5.278km circuit.
“I think it’s just the nature of sprint racing,” said Payne when queried about the reason(s) for the action.
“I think people will get a lot more amped up and they know that it’s only a short race to make opportunity and obviously there being no pit stops now probably makes it even more entertaining, I would have thought.
“It is fun racing – like, you’ve got to really put yourself in the right spot to try and make up some spots – and you can easily put yourself in a bad position and lose four or five spots pretty quickly.
“So, yeah, I really like it; it’s fun, it gets the adrenaline going, and you’re wired as for most of the race.
“I really like the track here; it’s cool to drive.
“It’s actually not even far from my house – I walk here every morning – so it’s quite nice, and I do run around here a fair bit so it’s been cool envisioning this race and now I’ve got the podium, I’m pretty happy.”
One school of thought is that lack of pit stops leads to processional racing but, on the other hand, drivers are forced to make their passes on-track if they want to advance their position.
The unknown life of the soft tyre compound over 18 racing laps may well have also been a factor in the racing, and possibly also a still relatively ‘green’ Albert Park track.
One change of position, though, was directly attributable to a Payne error.
He was running third on the final lap when he bowled a serious wide at the penultimate corner and touched the grass, losing third on the road to Nick Percat but reclaiming it once the Matt Stone Racing driver’s time penalty for the Mostert incident was added.
“At the end, like, I don’t even really know what happened,” the #19 Ford Mustang pilot recounted.
“I was just driving and then I got into Turn 13 and then I locked up the front.
“But, it wasn’t even major, and then it’s like my foot slipped off the brake and then I ended up in the grass, and I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is going to end really bad,’ and I was thinking, ‘I’m making a fool of myself.’
“I knew Nick had the penalty so I thought, if he was faster than me, I wouldn’t really have a problem letting him pass, so that was always in the back of my mind.
“But then, when I actually saw him go past when I probably should have finished third outright, I was a bit disappointed.”
Payne has moved up to fourth in the drivers’ championship, 89 points behind third-placed Mostert, while Grove Racing remains second in the teams’ standings.
Race 4 of the season starts tomorrow at 14:55 local time/AEDT.
