Matt Payne was fastest in practice 2 at the Perth Super440. Image: InSyde Media
Payne clocked a best of 54.6661s in the #19 Grove Racing Ford Mustang, keeping his nose clean in an otherwise frenetic pair of sessions.
“Really good from all the boys here,” said Payne.
“We tuned it a little bit in the first practice. I thought we were pretty close, there or thereabouts.
“Then definitely made some steps forward in the second one.
“I felt like on the longer run we felt pretty competitive and then threw tyres on it and just seemed to get better. Really good.
“There are a couple of things we can tune a little bit overnight, but I feel like if we get the car out there like we did today I don’t think there’s any trouble of doing well.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing. I’m really enjoying giving this car a good run.
“Every weekend Jack (Bell) is doing a good job with the setup, so it’s really nice to drive.”
Practice 1 began with birthday boy Jayden Ojeda making a mess of Turn 3, locking up, and exploring the grass outfield at Turn 4.
Grove Racing started the weekend strongly with Kai Allen clocking his quickest time on his ninth lap of Wanneroo Raceway.
That stood atop the order until the closing minute when the rookies shod with an extra set of new tyres made improvements.
Ojeda put his greens to good use in the closing seconds of the session to go to the top on a 55.4011s. He was followed by his PremiAir Racing teammate Delcan Fraser, 0.1791s in arrears.
Aaron Cameron was a standout for the Blanchard Racing Team in third ahead of Allen while Jack Le Brocq (Matt Stone Racing) was fifth despite an electrical gremlin with his Chevrolet Camaro.
Brodie Kostecki (Dick Johnson Racing), Zach Bates (Matt Stone Racing), David Reynolds (Team 18), Payne and Rylan Gray (Dick Johnson Racing) completed the top 10.
The session ended with an off-track excursion for Brad Jones Racing driver Andre Heimgartner, who went off at the downhill sweeper.
“It didn’t really affect my performance. We’ve got a little bit of an engine thing as well going on, so we’ve got a couple things happening,” said Le Brocq.
“Just losing all power to the dash and the wipers were having a field day doing all sorts of stuff.”
The true pace read came in Practice 2 when teams went out for qualifying simulations.
Allen pushed the limits in the opening minutes of the second session, going off at Turn 1. He returned to the pit lane with damage to the side skirt and only managed 10 laps after repairs.
Heimgartner’s issues continued. In the second instance, Le Brocq got into the back of the Brad Jones Racing Toyota Supra and tipped it into a spin.
Gray was the next driver to cop a whack when Erebus Motorsport’s Cooper Murray drilled the back of the Dick Johnson Racing Mustang with his Camaro. Gray escaped with a bruised rear bumper while Murray smashed his grille.
Inside the final five minutes, Gray led De Pasquale, Payne, Kostecki, Murray, Feeney, Mostert, Ojeda, Reynolds, and Le Brocq.
There were bizarre scenes in the closing minutes. That began with Jackson Walls locking up deluxe into Turn 3, sending smoke signals from his Mustang.
At the same time, Allen and Wood banged wheels on their out-lap through Turn 3 and 4.
The timing totem took on an all-new look as those on new tyres improved. Payne wound up leading an all-Ford top five ahead of Feeney, Kostecki, Thomas Randle and Cam Waters.
Fraser was the best of the Chevrolet drivers in sixth ahead of Brown, Ojeda, De Pasquale and Reynolds.
Hill was the best-placed Toyota in 12th. The biggest surprise was Walkinshaw TWG Racing with Wood and Mostert down in 20th and 21st.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship Bosch Power Tools Perth Super440, Practice 1
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
31
Jayden Ojeda
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.4011
2
777
Declan Fraser
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.5802
0.1791
0.1791
3
3
Aaron Cameron
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
55.6695
0.2684
0.0893
4
26
Kai Allen
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.6765
0.2754
0.007
5
4
Jack Le Brocq
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.6996
0.2985
0.0231
6
17
Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.727
0.3259
0.0274
7
10
Zach Bates
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.7619
0.3608
0.0349
8
20
David Reynolds
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.7682
0.3671
0.0063
9
19
Matthew Payne
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.7743
0.3732
0.0061
10
38
Rylan Gray
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.7802
0.3791
0.0059
11
7
James Golding
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
55.833
0.4319
0.0528
12
88
Broc Feeney
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
55.8452
0.4441
0.0122
13
18
Anton De Pasquale
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.8861
0.485
0.0409
14
14
Cameron Hill
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.9251
0.524
0.039
15
99
Cooper Murray
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.9401
0.539
0.015
16
55
Thomas Randle
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.9629
0.5618
0.0228
17
1
Chaz Mostert
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
56.0301
0.629
0.0672
18
888
William Brown
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
56.0437
0.6426
0.0136
19
9
Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsport
Chev Camaro ZL1
56.0477
0.6466
0.004
20
6
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
56.1621
0.761
0.1144
21
2
Ryan Wood
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
56.178
0.7769
0.0159
22
96
Macauley Jones
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
56.1829
0.7818
0.0049
23
8
Andre Heimgartner
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
56.286
0.8849
0.1031
24
11
Jackson Walls
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
56.5955
1.1944
0.3095
Results: Repco Supercars Championship Bosch Power Tools Perth Super440, Practice 2
Pos
Num
Driver
Team
Car
Lap
Diff
Gap
1
19
Matthew Payne
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
54.6661
2
88
Broc Feeney
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
54.8904
0.2243
0.2243
3
17
Brodie Kostecki
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
54.9394
0.2733
0.049
4
55
Thomas Randle
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
54.9682
0.3021
0.0288
5
6
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.0212
0.3551
0.053
6
777
Declan Fraser
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.073
0.4069
0.0518
7
888
William Brown
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
55.0734
0.4073
0.0004
8
31
Jayden Ojeda
PremiAir Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.0868
0.4207
0.0134
9
18
Anton De Pasquale
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.1637
0.4976
0.0769
10
20
David Reynolds
Team 18
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.2196
0.5535
0.0559
11
7
James Golding
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
55.2474
0.5813
0.0278
12
14
Cameron Hill
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.2919
0.6258
0.0445
13
10
Zach Bates
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.3063
0.6402
0.0144
14
8
Andre Heimgartner
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.3811
0.715
0.0748
15
96
Macauley Jones
Brad Jones Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.4056
0.7395
0.0245
16
4
Jack Le Brocq
Matt Stone Racing
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.441
0.7749
0.0354
17
26
Kai Allen
Grove Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.4614
0.7953
0.0204
18
99
Cooper Murray
Erebus Motorsports
Chev Camaro ZL1
55.4775
0.8114
0.0161
19
38
Rylan Gray
Dick Johnson Racing
Ford Mustang GT
55.5284
0.8623
0.0509
20
2
Ryan Wood
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.572
0.9059
0.0436
21
1
Chaz Mostert
Walkinshaw TWG Racing
Toyota GR Supra A90
55.6504
0.9843
0.0784
22
11
Jackson Walls
Triple Eight Race Engineering
Ford Mustang GT
55.7781
1.112
0.1277
23
3
Aaron Cameron
Blanchard Racing Team
Ford Mustang GT
55.7903
1.1242
0.0122
24
9
Jobe Stewart
Erebus Motorsports
Chev Camaro ZL1
56.0943
1.4282
0.304