Grove: First-up Gen3 podium 'outstanding'

Silverware in Penrite Racing’s first outing with its new Gen3 Ford Mustangs has proven “outstanding” for team owner Stephen Grove.

David Reynolds heads to the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint fourth in the championship after a strong showing in Newcastle.

Reynolds powered to ARMOR ALL Pole Position on Sunday, before racing to third in the gruelling race.

Penrite Racing — under its Grove Racing guise — built multiple new cars for the first time for 2023.

It paid dividends immediately, with the team second in the teams’ standings, given rookie Matt Payne’s impressive debut.

The Braeside operation has never been as high as second in the teams’ championship, even when it ran as Kelly Racing.

In its first season under sole Grove ownership, Penrite Racing finished fifth last year — and is currently the top-ranked Ford team.

Payne, in his first full-time appearance, finished 12th and 14th, the latter result coming as the Kiwi battled illness.

“To get David Reynolds onto the podium this weekend, after all the work the team has done, is an outstanding result,” Grove said.

"It was also pretty good to be the first Mustang to get a pole position under the new Gen3 rules.

"Matty Payne made huge progress over the weekend as he stepped up to the main game as a rookie.

"The cars were also more consistent across the whole fuel loads over the weekend.”

The next box to tick for Penrite Racing is converting at Albert Park, where Reynolds was arguably the driver of the weekend 12 months ago.

Reynolds scored a pole and three podiums at the Grand Prix last year, and was on course to win the Larry Perkins Perpetual Trophy before retiring from the last race.

The Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint will offer a new challenge, with drivers and teams switching to sprint mode at a vastly different circuit.

Grove identified improvement in pit stops as key to keeping his cars in the fight, with the races flat-out sprints with a compulsory stop.

"Looking ahead, the Australian Grand Prix meeting in Melbourne is on a completely different circuit, fast and open, over four days,” Grove said.

"There is a lot of work still to be done on our pit stops because they will be crucial at Albert Park."

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint on March 30-April 2.