Why Payne is keeping cool on championship aspirations

While he has already two wins in the bank this season, Matt Payne would rather put more energy into being consistent than thinking he is a championship contender.

The Penrite Racing driver heads to the upcoming round in Tasmania as the in-form driver, winning two races in New Zealand to capture the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.

After a solid start in Sydney, Payne has only been out-scored by reigning champion Will Brown since, jumping from sixth to third in the standings.

The 22-year-old won Race 8 and Race 8 in New Zealand to take his career tally to four, and is one of two multi-race winners this season through three rounds.

While he admitted Taupō was the best weekend of his career, Payne quickly played down suggestions he is a championship contender, instead calling on his team to be more consistent.

Payne next heads to Tasmania and Perth, two circuits that have proven tricky for the Kiwi to master. Payne has 17.8 race and 14.2 qualifying averages at Symmons Plains, and 10.0 race and 10.6 qualifying averages in Perth.

"It's good that we've had two wins in one round," he said after Race 10.

"It's definitely helped our championship progress. I probably wouldn't get too far ahead of myself. We've had one good round.

"I know there's a couple of tough tracks coming up for us. We really need to knuckle down and make sure we're on the front foot for both of those tracks to make sure it wasn't like past years where we were inconsistent.

"For sure being in third now and showing what we're capable of this weekend, it's a good showing."

Payne is 46 points behind Brown, and 12 points behind second-placed Cam Waters, heading to Tasmania. Tickets are on sale now.