Matt Payne recently turned 15-point deficit into 90-point lead in Townsville
Broc Feeney has finished no better than fifth across last six races
Feeney won twice in Perth last year, before winning twice at QR
Garth Tander insists championship leader Matt Payne must take each coming opportunity to get one over Broc Feeney, amid anticipation that Triple Eight will surge back into the title fight.
The pendulum has swung towards Payne and Penrite Racing in recent rounds, with the Bathurst champion putting 107 points on Feeney alone last time out at the NTI Townsville 500.
Payne is armed with a big chance to all but clinch the Repco Sprint Cup at this weekend's Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440, with Feeney 92 points behind. Brodie Kostecki is 187 points down in third, with Cam Waters 195 back.
Feeney won twice in Perth last year, as he romped to the Sprint Cup. The final stop on the Sprint Cup tour is Queensland Raceway, where Triple Eight has completed the balance of its testing with the Mustang, and Feeney won twice last August.
Payne said there's "no doubt they're gonna turn things around at some stage," and quipped Feeney will be "faster than ever." Supercars.com has also tipped Feeney to close the gap to Payne and take the Sprint Cup battle down to the wire in Queensland.
Amid the unknowns of Triple Eight's performance, six-time Bathurst champion Tander suggested Payne and Penrite Racing must hang tough Perth to establish himself as the benchmark, ahead of a telling round in Ipswich.
“You'd rather have a 92-point lead than a 92-point deficit, but it's certainly not solid,” Tander told Supercars.com.
“You know full well that Triple Eight and Broc in particular are going to fight back at some stage. So for Matt and for Penrite Racing, you need to be making sure that for every opportunity that presents itself, you're taking it.
“The last round of the Sprint Cup is at Queensland Raceway, a track that Triple Eight knows well. They have done some laps there this year in a Mustang, and that will be beneficial for them when the championship goes there.
“For Matt, if the opportunity presents itself that you're in front of Broc at any stage, even if you're battling for 19th and 20th, you bank that 19th and be ahead of Broc in 20th."
Triple Eight's streak of six races without a podium has been highly publicised, despite only being out-scored by Penrite Racing and Tickford Racing across the last two rounds.
However, the championship-winning squad will be put to the absolute test at the tyre-killing Motormall Wanneroo Raceway, which boasts sub-minute lap times.
“Back in my day, there was a lot of tyre management because the surface was quite aggressive. It's probably not that bad now,” Tander said.
“But it is a very different racetrack to a lot of the places we go to. You spend a lot of time in the corners in Perth. We just came from Townsville, which has short, sharp corners, you're in the corner for a short period of time.
“The set-up requirement and the driving requirement is very different in Perth. It's a lot about flow. You still need strong braking stability. There's three pretty big stops in 55-odd seconds.
"But it's probably a cross between needing a Symmons Plains car and a Sydney Motorsport Park-type car. For set-up, that's what you'll need. But for driving, you'll still need to manage the tyre, but very smooth inputs at Perth pay you back in spades.”
When asked if that could suit Triple Eight, which won in Sydney and Tasmania earlier this year, Tander replied: “Maybe. This slump won’t go on forever.
"I've got the feeling that when they unlock it, they’re going to be dominant. It could very much be this weekend."
Track action in Perth commences on Friday.
