Matt Payne has set a sparkling tone for a season-defining weekend, with a blistering lap ahead of the opening Supercars race of the Sandown 500.
The Grove Racing star clocked the fastest lap of one minute 8.5014 seconds across Friday's two 25-minute practice sessions, ahead of Saturday's 79-lap, 250km race at Sandown International Motor Raceway.
The New Zealander knows two strong results in Melbourne will all-but-ensure he is part of the grand final in Adelaide.
The Sandown 500 is the penultimate round of the Supercars finals series, with seven drivers in with a chance of winning the championship heading into this weekend, but only four will remain after the chequered flag falls.
The winners of Saturday's and Sunday's 250km races will book their tickets to the grand final, regardless of their standing in the top seven.
Payne is currently first, and only has to avoid being among the bottom three drivers who fail to win one of the races, who are eliminated from the title chase.
"Our speed's dropped away a little bit [over the past weeks] ... so we've put a lot of effort this round to really try and turn things around," Payne said.
"Today has been a really good reward for everyone.
"The last couple of years [at Sandown], we've been good enough to finish fifth or fourth, but haven't quite had the expectation to try and challenge for the win, so it's nice to be somewhat there now."
While Payne got his weekend off to a solid start, the fourth-ranked Chaz Mostert finished a disappointing 20th in the second session, after coming to Melbourne off a stellar Gold Coast 500 campaign.
The reigning Supercars champion battled through gearbox issues, but he was well off the pace, with the next closest finalist, Tickford Racing's Cam Waters, in 12th.
Triple Eight Race Engineering's Broc Feeney was second-fastest on Friday, with non-finalist Cooper Murray third.
But Feeney wasn't content with his team's performance as he sits second in the standings.
"It was a pretty tough day, to be honest," he said.
"Overall, we've still got a fair bit to work on."
The seventh-ranked Anton De Pasquale missed a large chunk of qualifying but rallied to finish seventh, while Will Brown and Bathurst 1000 winner Brodie Kostecki were ninth and 10th, respectively.
PremiAir Racing's non-finalist Jayden Ojeda topped the first session in one minute 8.798 seconds, beating out Kostecki and Thomas Randle.
Although practice doesn't count for points, it is the only time drivers get a feel for the course and the state of their cars ahead of qualifying on Saturday morning.
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