Payne tops Sandown practice as Supercars finalists face elimination
Seven championship contenders will be reduced to four at Sandown, with each race winner guaranteed a place in the Adelaide grand final.
Grove Racing’s Matt Payne recorded the quickest Supercars practice time at Sandown International Motor Raceway, clocking one minute 8.5014 seconds before a round that will decide which four drivers contest the championship in Adelaide.
Payne led the combined times across two 25-minute sessions. Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Broc Feeney was second, followed by Cooper Murray, who is not among the seven drivers still in championship contention.
The Sandown 500 is the second-last round of the finals series. Victory in either of its 250km races guarantees a grand final berth, irrespective of a driver’s position among the seven contenders. Payne leads the standings, with Feeney second.
Payne said the team had worked hard to reverse a recent decline in speed and that the practice performance rewarded those efforts. Feeney, however, said his team still had considerable work to do after a difficult day.
Fourth-ranked Chaz Mostert struggled with gearbox problems and finished the second session in 20th place. Cam Waters was the next-lowest finalist in that session, placing 12th.
PremiAir Racing’s Jayden Ojeda, another non-finalist, led the opening session with one minute 8.798 seconds, ahead of Brodie Kostecki and Thomas Randle. Practice carries no points; qualifying precedes the opening 79-lap race.
