Kiwi Supercars championship leader Matt Payne heads to Western Australia this weekend knowing the Perth Super440 could prove one of the defining rounds of the Sprint Cup.
With just six races remaining before the Sprint Cup concludes, the Penrite Racing driver has built a valuable 92-point advantage after a remarkable turnaround over the past two rounds. However, despite holding the upper hand, Payne expects the competition to intensify as the series returns to the demanding Wanneroo Raceway.
The Kiwi has been one of the form drivers of the championship, recording six consecutive top-four finishes to transform what was once a sizeable points deficit into a healthy lead. But Payne believes it would be a mistake to think the battle is anywhere near over, particularly with Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney expected to rebound.
“I think it’s just naturally what happens. We always try and be the best we can week in and week out, and unfortunately for Broc he was just on the wrong side of that tenth, really,” Payne said.
“It doesn’t take much, and he didn’t quite get on top of that, and to be able to run in the top three here it’s super competitive, the whole field is so quick.
“Fortunately for us, we could take advantage of that when we needed to, and keep extending that. There’s no doubt they’re gonna turn things around at some stage, and he’ll be faster than ever.”
While Triple Eight has endured an unusually quiet run of results, Payne isn’t expecting that to continue for long.
“For sure, the gaps are a little bit smaller in terms of qualifying. You still have the heavy hitters up the front week in and week out, so for a team like Triple Eight to not have a successful round in points per se is a little bit strange.
“But we’ve seen it, I don’t know how many times, they’ve had a couple of bad races and then they come out swinging even harder.
“I’m sure they’re going to work for it and find out whatever their issues are, and fix those up.”
Perth presents one of the most distinctive challenges on the Supercars calendar. Wanneroo Raceway’s abrasive surface, high-speed corners and significant elevation changes place enormous demands on tyres, while its short lap means even the smallest mistake in qualifying can have major consequences.
Those factors could make strategy just as important as outright pace.
Saturday’s pair of 120km sprint races are expected to be completed with a single pit stop, although tyre degradation could tempt some teams into gambling on a two-stop approach if wear proves greater than anticipated.
Looking after both the Soft and Super Soft tyre compounds will be a key focus throughout the weekend, with track position expected to play a major role in determining race results.
Friday’s schedule has also been condensed compared with previous years, giving teams two consecutive 25-minute practice sessions to dial in their cars before qualifying. With limited time available to fine-tune set-ups, every lap could prove critical.
Payne knows Wanneroo has a habit of exposing even the smallest weaknesses.
“We’ve seen it time and time again that you just make one tiny mistake and you just get punished so bad for it,” he said.
“You don’t feel like it’s that bad, but you have to be ten tenths to be competitive in this series, which is great because for motorsport worldwide I think there’s only a very limited amount of series that offer that kind of competition.
“Especially with how even the cars are, it shows any weaknesses that anyone has.”
The circuit also brings back good memories for the Kiwi after a thrilling battle with Feeney in last year’s final race in Perth, where the pair fought to the chequered flag in one of the weekend’s closest finishes.
Despite arriving as the championship leader, Payne isn’t taking anything for granted.
“Perth’s another one of those Australian older tracks that has a lot of character and it’s tough, you gotta have a slightly awkward set-up to make it work really well,” he said.
“We’ve seen teams go there in the past that have a really, really strong weekend, and some that have a really, really bad weekend, so hopefully we can do the work to make sure we’re on the other side of that and can score some good points again.”
With Payne, Feeney, Brodie Kostecki and Cam Waters all firmly in the Sprint Cup fight, a strong weekend in Perth could be pivotal before the championship heads into its closing rounds.
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