Grove Junior Team chasing the next big thing

The newly-established Grove Junior Team will open applications for its junior driver and development program for 2022.

The program will handpick Australian and New Zealand drivers at the beginning of their motorsport careers to aid their journey to the Repco Supercars Championship.

Prospective drivers will be able to apply to be part of the initial three-driver squad.

The program will offer driver and engineering training, sports psychology, plus business mentoring and financial literacy.

Successful Grove Junior Team inductees will receive a contribution to their racing budgets, in an effort to fast-track the careers of young talented drivers.

Inductees may be selected from as young as the age of 12, with any karter in Australia or New Zealand eligible for selection.

It comes after New Zealand racer Matthew Payne was named as the inaugural inductee of the Grove Junior Team earlier this month. 

Payne completed a test day at Winton Motor Raceway on Monday as part of an evaluation with Kelly Grove Racing.

The teenager completed close to 80 laps in one of Kelly Grove Racing's Nissan Altima Super2 cars.

The team has confirmed Payne will drive a Grove Racing-prepared entry in the remaining rounds of the 2021 Dunlop Super2 Series at Sydney Motorsport Park and the Repco Bathurst 1000.

Payne will also complete his current Porsche Carrera Cup campaign.

"I’m so grateful to be the first inductee to this junior program and I just can't wait to represent it on the racetrack," Payne said.

"It’s an awesome opportunity for myself to progress my career as we know these days it’s really hard to keep climbing the motorsport ladder and it’s great to have Stephen [Grove] helping out other young drivers looking to boost their careers as well."

Applications to join the Grove Junior Team are open for the month of October.

Judged by Stephen and Brenton Grove, plus other renowned motorsport identities, two extra inductees will be selected to join Payne.

"The Grove Junior Program has been setup to identify young drivers in Australia and New Zealand that have potential to build a racing career, who may not have the resources or expertise to be able to follow that road map," Stephen Grove said.

"It’s something that we’ve put in place and we’re really excited about.

"In Australia and New Zealand, we’ve identified an area to give young kids the opportunity to progress. One of the models we’ve used is the global Red Bull Junior program, which has been able to discover and foster some of the world’s best drivers.

"Grove Racing has a variety of racing programs from Carrera Cup to Supercars, and once we entered Supercars team ownership earlier this year, we identified that it was really important to start bringing young drivers through a development program. There’s nothing really like it here in Australia and New Zealand.

"We’ve had a pretty close relationship with Scott McLaughlin through a long-term sponsorship and we’ve watched him develop from Super2 into Supercars and now IndyCar where he is making us all proud over in the US.

"These are the types of drivers we are looking for, the next generation of young drivers that can come through and we can all be entertained by in Supercars."

At the start of 2021, the Groves formed an alliance with Supercars Championship team Kelly Racing, with the team set to be a solely Grove-run operation from 2022.

Applications will be able to be submitted via the Grove Group website, starting October 1 and close at the end of October.