Payne wary of qualifying traffic after Friday hold-up
Matt Payne wary of potential for traffic during Boost Mobile Qualifying
Payne was baulked by David Reynolds during Practice 2 this afternoon
Drivers have been able to get two push laps out of new Soft tyre
Despite topping the final practice session of Friday at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 with the fastest time of the day, Matt Payne is wary that a split second is all it will take to derail any chance to utilise speed tomorrow.
Indeed, in what could potentially be precursor to what we can expect in the back-to-back Boost Mobile Qualifying sessions tomorrow morning at Carco.com.au Raceway, Payne had to back out of a lap to avoid traffic on his final practice run.
The slower traffic came in the form of former Penrite Racing teammate David Reynolds, and hampered Payne's run plan, with Payne driving an unscheduled cool down lap.
However, the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy winner was able to regroup and set the fastest time of the session on a second push lap at a 54.3903s, just under a tenth of a second ahead of Anton De Pasquale.
Traffic problems have been a common problem in qualifying at Wanneroo, and reared their ugly head last year when Ryan Wood baulked Mark Winterbottom after having an off at Turn 1 in Sunday qualifying.
There are fears that traffic issues could be made worse by the new Dunlop Soft tyre, with drivers being able to push, and often go faster, on second push laps, a trait that hasn't been seen in Perth before.
However, Payne is not overly worried about encountering traffic tomorrow, however he is mindful that it could play a big role, especially in the first segments of qualifying with all 25 cars on track.
"I got a little bit baulked even on the warm up lap, it wasn't great for me," said Payne in the Friday press conference.
"I think tomorrow, it's always a little bit different, because everyone is usually in sync so it's not as much of an issue, but it's definitely something.
"At these shorter tracks, it always proves to be a little bit difficult, but you just have to manage it as best you can in the moment."
Boost Mobile Qualifying for Race 14 of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship begins at 9:45am AWST/11:45am AEST tomorrow, before Race 15 Qualifying at 10:35am AWST/12:35pm AEST.
