Payne storms to maiden Supercars pole in Melbourne

Matt Payne has claimed the first pole of his Supercars career in Melbourne, with a late flyer pipping Tickford’s Cam Waters for the position for this evening’s 14-lap outing.

The Kiwi championship contender, who finished on the podium in the opening two races at Albert Park, then qualified second for Sunday’s outing, behind only Chaz Mostert.

A sprinkle of rain before the first of two 15-minute sessions began presented a challenge for drivers. Stanaway was the first to be forced to use a runoff, with Percat following him in at Turn 6.

Anton De Pasquale was lucky to escape from contact with the Turn 8 wall over the early exchanges.

Track conditions quickly improved, and at the midpoint, Jack Le Brocq sat at the top of the time sheets from James Golding, James Courtney, Tim Slade, and Todd Hazelwood. Pyane jumped to second with six minutes remaining, running off-sync to the majority of the field, who were in pit lane at the time.

Brown also left it late to set his first time and jumped to the provisional pole when he did, with three minutes remaining on the clock. Feeney jumped ahead of his teammate, who had returned to pit lane in the final minute, only for Mostert and then Waters to move to the front.

Payne tumbled down the order as late times came in, but he remained out on track and would go better than everyone as time ran out. His 1:46.6541 was enough to claim his first Supercars pole over Waters by just 0.0073 seconds.

Mostert was third, ahead of Feeney, the top Red Bull driver, in fourth. Le Brocq leapt ahead of Brown for fifth, while David Reynolds, Tim Slade, Stanaway and Thomas Randle completed the top ten.

Andre Heimgartner worked forward for 13th following a difficult opening two days of action, while a late lap from Ryan Wood elevated him from 24th to 15th.

Jaxon Evans rounded out the Kiwi contingent in 22nd.

The early pace in Race 6 qualifying matched that seen on the final flyers of Race 5 qualifying, and Percat’s 1:46.6713 set the opening benchmark. Mostert went on to better this mid-session, his 1:46.4835 the best of the day to that point.

Payne then improved this on his first representative lap, going 0.05 seconds faster with four minutes remaining. He would return to the lane following this, content with his time.

A late lap from Waters elevated him to third before Mostert went quickest to upstage the Kiwi and take the pole for Sunday’s finale. Behind Mostert, Payne and Waters came Percat, Fullwood and Feeney, while de Pasquale, Davison, Brown and Le Brocq completed the top ten.

Stanaway was the second-quickest Kiwi in 14th, ahead of Wood in 16th and Evans in 22nd.

Heimgartner had a brush with the Turn 8 wall on his final lap and failed to set a representative time, putting him at the rear of the field.

Saturday’s sole Supercars race, with Payne starting on pole, begins at 7.40 pm, before Sunday’s finale at 12.25 pm.

Supercars Race 5 Starting Grid

Supercars Race 6 Starting Grid