Toppling Triple Eight remains Grove's Everest

Penrite Racing may have reached the summit of Supercars, but Executive Chairman Stephen Grove knows his team needs to keep delivering to stay there.

The Grove squad wrested away the teams' championship lead from Ford rivals Triple Eight in Darwin, before Matt Payne seized the drivers' lead from Broc Feeney in the Townsville opener.

Heading to Perth, Payne leads Feeney by 92 points, while the gap at the top of the teams' standings is now 132 points. As it were, both championships are now Penrite Racing's to lose.

Claiming the lead was the culmination of more than five years' work for the Groves, who entered the sport with Kelly Racing in 2021, before taking over the operation in 2022.

The Melbourne based team is now on top of the tree, but Grove isn't feeling comfortable yet.

“It's a credit to the whole team. We've been working really hard," Grove told Supercars.com in Townsville.

"Our goal was always to get to this. Everyone’s worked super hard and we're really planning, but it's so early in the process, you know?

"But DJR, Tickford, Team 18, they're all coming through. We just need to keep working really, really hard.”

Despite the exits of Team Principal David Cauchi and Technical Director Grant McPherson, the team continues to get better and better.

Triple Eight's slump of sorts — with the Red Bull Ampol squad now on a six-race run without a podium, its worst run since 2006 — has been amplified by the fact that Penrite Racing, Tickford Racing and the Shell V-Power Racing Team have all been winning races.

“To beat them, you need to be on your A-game all the time. So for us, it's the little things now. We had to try and get the cars faster, get them within that window," Grove said of Triple Eight.

"We had to try and spend a lot of time on simulation and spend a lot of time on developing the crew and the team and the belief and the drivers.

“Now it's all the little one-percenters that are gonna make the difference, and we're working really hard to be able to do that because it's one thing to be here, it's another thing to be consistent, and we've gotta really work hard on that."

Bathurst victory last year was major proof that the Penrite squad isn't mucking around, but the teams' lead is what really matters to Grove, who is adamant he has drivers who can do the job.

“When I was a kid, I reckon I watched every Bathurst from about three on," Grove said.

“To win Bathurst was a big achievement, and a personal achievement for me. The other big goal for me is the teams' championship, and that's because it's a credit to everybody.

“You can't do that unless you've got two really solid drivers that are getting you points week in, week out. We're really excited about both drivers.

"They're both young, and we'll just keep progressing and try to rack up as many points as we can.”

Penrite Racing will occupy the first two garages at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 on July 31-August 31.