“Disappointing” weakness Payne highlighted in Sydney

Payne pinpointed qualifying as his Achilles heel at the latest Supercars round at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The Kiwi provisionally qualified seventh for Race 15 before spinning at the penultimate turn in the top 10 shootout. He went on to race through to second with a bold one-stop strategy.

A day later, Payne missed out on the top 10 shootout when he exceeded track limits on his final lap to qualify 11th. Again, Payne made headway in the race to come through to fourth.

“It’s been pretty disappointing making two pretty crucial mistakes,” Payne told Speedcafe.

“I think just working on the one percenters is gonna be my next focus for the next few weeks and trying to just nail it so we can execute and make our lives so much easier for the race.

“We have so much speed in race trim that we just waste so much of it trying to get through the first five cars on strategy. It’s frustrating.

“I knew we probably could have had two pretty solid podiums.

“If I started up the front [in Race 15] and finished that lap [in the shootout], I think we could have been in a lot better position for the win.

“If you don’t make mistakes, you could say you don’t really learn too much, but it’s a little bit disappointing from my side to see myself make those mistakes.

“It’s very positive to see the race pace take a bit of a turn and I know it’s something we struggled a little bit with at the start of the year. So it’s good to get on top of it.”

Payne has been a revelation this year. The 21-year-old won the season-ending Adelaide 500 in 2023 and has carried that momentum into 2024.

At Townsville, Grove Racing pulled off a bold three-stop strategy to charge through the field from ninth for victory.

In Sydney, they went the other way with the one-stop strategy and made up almost as much ground.

In any case, Payne is keen to capitalise on the pace he knows he has in qualifying and the race.

“We just gave up so much time at the start trying to get past all those guys,” said Payne of Race 15.

“The strategy was so mint, the guys just nailed it and they trusted themselves.

“At the end of the day, it’s still a good result. We still got good points, but it’s always really interesting to know what could have been if I had just executed in qualifying.

“I think we definitely had the speed for a podium [in Race 16] and even maybe to challenge Chaz [Mostert] out there at the front. I’ve just got to do some work.”

Payne sits fifth in the drivers’ championship after Race 16.