Hill and Grove call out “average” driving standards

Both Cameron Hill and Stephen Grove have left the Melbourne SuperSprint frustrated by a series of incidents.

Matt Stone Racing’s Hill and Grove’s Penrite Racing were in the thick of the action across the four Supercars sprint races held in support of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix last weekend.

Whilst his teammate Nick Percat took a stunning win in Sunday’s race, Hill’s #4 Camaro was spun by Ryan Wood at Turn 6 on the final lap.

It was a tough blow for Hill, who was on track for a second top 10 of the year in eighth and lost valuable championship points, while Wood was penalised.

This was not the only time Hill found trouble, having dropped from 16th to 20th on Friday due to contact and almost getting rotated at the start of Saturday’s race at turn 3.

After a tough campaign Hill was frustrated by some “average driving”.

“When it’s not your weekend it’s not your weekend,” Hill said.

“I got punted off in three out of four races. I was running eighth in the last one, which would have been the best result of the weekend and to have it taken away by some average driving was obviously disappointing.

“A few guys out there probably need to practice using their brakes.

“We’ll bounce back, and next up is New Zealand. I’m really looking forward to getting over there.

“I’ll try to stay clear of any black cats and ladders between now and then!”

Another team that found trouble at the wrong moments was Penrite Racing.

Matt Payne found himself in the lead twice but on both occasions incidents saw wins slip away.

On Saturday night Payne and Cam Waters tangled at the final corner, leaving both Mustangs in the wall and creating a fiery aftermath.

Then on Sunday the #19 was again leading the race, only to be hit by a locked up Chaz Mostert which sent both Fords to the grass and again allowed a Camaro to take a win.

Penrite Racing team principal Stephen Grove described the driving standards as “pretty bad”.

“The positive note from the weekend is the car has a lot of speed. The negative is the driving standards are pretty bad,” he said.

“Both Matty Payne and Richie Stanaway performed well but the outcome on the weekend was unfortunately taken out of their hands.

“Matty has come a long way now and he will be up there challenging for wins for the rest of his Supercars career. Richie is building and building, and every race on the weekend he got stronger.

“We definitely now have a car that we think will be quick everywhere through the rest of the season.”

Photo by LAT Images

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