Payne claims first-ever Christchurch Supercars pole position

Payne pipped Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki, whose best time came early in the second leg of qualifying.

Kiwis will be line astern with Ryan Wood qualifying third for Walkinshaw TWG Racing.

Payne’s Grove Racing teammate Kai Allen was fourth fastest while Will Brown completed the top five for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

Anton De Pasquale was the best of the Chevrolet Camaro contingent in sixth ahead of fellow bow tie driver Zach Bates, who was an impressive seventh for Matt Stone Racing.

James Golding (Blanchard Racing Team), Broc Feeney (Triple Eight), and Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw) completed the top 10.

Payne is still searching for his first race win of the season, with his last coming in the final outing at the Adelaide Grand Final.

“I don’t know if many people would have known that or not, but I’ve never been here before until today,” said Payne.

“I absolutely love the joint. It’s so cool, so good to drive, so fun, one of the busiest tracks we have for sure on the calendar.

“Just grateful for all the guys and girls at Penrite Racing, they didn’t a really good job and we rolled out really strong and it’s really cool to reward them with this.

“It’s probably the preparation that goes into something like this going to a new track, obviously there’s so much to do with the set-up and driving for the track as well.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work for that and I think the preparation and rollout has been really strong.

“The car has ultimately been in the window since we rolled out, which is a big positive for us.

“Really happy about getting this and giving myself the best opportunity to get it done this afternoon.”

The first leg of qualifying was a frenetic affair. After the first run, it was Brodie Kostecki who led Wood, Payne, Allen, and Golding. The top 10 was completed by Heimgartner, Brown, Mostert, Feeney, and Thomas Randle.

Cameron Waters was something of a yo-yo throughout the session. He went off the road at Pothole during his first flying lap, which left him last of the 24 cars.

The #6 Monster Mustang rose to seventh on his final run but as others improved, he dropped to 14th. Waters’ teammate Thomas Randle, meanwhile, was the first driver on the outside the top 10 looking in.

Other noteworthy omissions from the top 10 included Heimgartner in 13th – the most experienced driver of any at Ruapuna.

Having shown some promise with the ninth fastest time in practice, Dick Johnson Racing’s Rylan Gray could only qualify 16th.

Race 1 of the Christchurch Super440 at Ruapuna gets underway at 2:35pm AEST.

Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Christchurch Super440, Qualifying Race 1