Matt Payne and trainer Heath Meldrum. Image: Supplied
The series-leading Ford squad found itself in hot water on the Saturday of the Perth event over use of too many radio devices.
Two-car teams are allowed to have 12 radio devices, however Grove Racing was caught using 14 devices during Saturday’s on-track action.
The breach was recognised by the stewards, who issued a $5000 fine – however due to mitigating circumstances the fine is fully suspended until December 31 this year.
Grove Racing argued during its hearing that the additional devices were for troubleshooting known issues, something team boss Brenton Grove explained in more detail following Matt Payne’s win on Sunday.
“Essentially, what happened was we had two more [radio] belt packs than what were allowed,” said Grove when quizzed on the matter by Speedcafe.
“And the reason we had that was two of our mechanics’ radios were keying up through the radio system to Matt [Payne] whilst he was driving, and we’ve had that issue in the past.
“So we swapped them out and that issue [was resolved].
“Unfortunately when we swapped them out, it was the time where Supercars did an audit.
“When we swapped back to the radio system that we’re having issues with, the issue came back to Matt in the race [on Saturday] and was keying up when no one was talking.
“Unfortunately, we breached the rule. What we should have done is speak to Supercars and tell them that we were doing that, because it is a known issue in the category and other teams have done that with permission.
“We should have asked for permission rather than taking it into our own hands.
“But it is a frustrating scenario at the moment. We don’t quite have full control over the infrastructure that’s being provided to us and it is creating a lot of problems for not just us, but the category.
“After every session our drivers will come back and tell us something different that’s happening with the radio. Frustration got in the way and unfortunately we fell afoul of the rules.”
Supercars changed its control radio to system to one provided by Riedel Communications this season as part of a broadcast push for more car-to-pit audio.
While the audio has been a welcome addition to the broadcast it has proven frustrating for teams with consistent issues in an operational sense.
According to Grove it is a matter that has been taken up with Supercars and Riedel, at times to the team’s expense.
“We’re talking to Supercars [and] we also talk to Reidel,” he said.
“We’ve paid for Reidel people to be in our garage multiple times this year to try and get on top of the issue and I’m not sure of all the details as to why it’s a problem.
“It’s a similar system to what’s being used overseas but it is a tricky environment to make the radio work and we’re not quite doing a good enough job as a category.
“But Supercars is working very hard with the infrastructure they’ve been provided to try and fix that.
“We’re now in more dialogue with Supercars after [Saturday] and they allowed us to go back to the system we used [on Saturday] and the issue [resolved].
“It’s something we’ll be more collaborative with but it is frustrating that we’re the at the eighth round and we still have issues talking to the car.”
The radio breach was one of two run-ins with the stewards for Grove Racing in Perth, the team also successfully defending a tyre pressure breach for Kai Allen during Sunday’s race.