CARRERA CUP YOUNGSTER FIRMING AS HEIMGARTNER REPLACEMENT
Teenage Kiwi sensation Matthew Payne has been scooped up by Grove Racing and is tipped to take over Andre Heimgartner’s seat at the new-look team in 2022.
Fellow New Zealander Heimgartner, a Supercars race winner in 2021 for Kelly Grove Racing, will leave the squad at the end of the season and is understood to have already sorted a new deal to stay in the category.
Effectively, team owner Stephen Grove is taking a punt 18-year old Payne has the talent to become an elite Supercars racer. Parting ways with Heimgartner is an obvious risk, given he is highly regarded in the category as an emerging talent.
“We are convinced Matty can race at the top level in Australia,” said Stephen Grove. “In my personal view the kid is elite.”
Grove wasn’t the only Supercars entity interested in Payne, with two or three others said to have made enquiries.
Heimgartner started at Kelly Racing in 2018. His new home is unlikely to be officially named for some time. Teams that have potential vacancies for him to fill include Brad Jones Racing, Team 18, Walkinshaw Andretti United, Tickford Racing and Matt Stone Racing.
In August Heimgartner told AUTO ACTION he was “most likely” to sign with Grove Racing for 2022. Stephen Grove had also spoken strongly in support of retaining him. The change of course came in the last couple of weeks.
“We decided for Andre’s career and development it was better he go and challenge himself somewhere else,” Grove said.
“I think you can become comfortable after that long in a team and we just decided it was better he heads in another direction.”
Heimgartner is currently in Perth quarantining and is not available for comment.
The Grove family bought a 50 per cent stake in Kelly Racing ahead of the 2021 season and more recently announced it would complete the takeover at the end of the season.
The signing of Payne and the creation of the academy are the latest headline-grabbing initiatives from Stephen Grove, who has declared an ambition to turn the squad into a Bathurst and championship winner.
He made it clear more initiatives were on the way: “There are fair few more surprises coming.”
It is understood Heimgartner’s departure and Payne’s multi-year contract in the academy will be announced in coming days along with his membership of a new Grove Junior Program.
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