Payne pipped Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki, whose best time came early in the second leg of qualifying.
Kiwis will be line astern with Ryan Wood qualifying third for Walkinshaw TWG Racing.
Payne’s Grove Racing teammate Kai Allen was fourth fastest while Will Brown completed the top five for Triple Eight Race Engineering.
Anton De Pasquale was the best of the Chevrolet Camaro contingent in sixth ahead of fellow bow tie driver Zach Bates, who was an impressive seventh for Matt Stone Racing.
James Golding (Blanchard Racing Team), Broc Feeney (Triple Eight), and Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw) completed the top 10.
The first leg of qualifying was a frenetic affair. After the first run, it was Brodie Kostecki who led Wood, Payne, Allen, and Golding. The top 10 was completed by Heimgartner, Brown, Mostert, Feeney, and Thomas Randle.
Cameron Waters was something of a yo-yo throughout the session. He went off the road at Pothole during his first flying lap, which left him last of the 24 cars.
The #6 Monster Mustang rose to seventh on his final run but as others improved, he dropped to 14th. Waters’ teammate Thomas Randle, meanwhile, was the first driver on the outside the top 10 looking in.
Other noteworthy omissions from the top 10 included Heimgartner in 13th – the most experienced driver of any at Ruapuna.
Having shown some promise with the ninth fastest time in practice, Dick Johnson Racing’s Rylan Gray could only qualify 16th.
Results: Repco Supercars Championship ITM Christchurch Super440, Qualifying Race 1
| Pos | Num | Driver | Team | Car | Lap | Diff | Gap |
| 1 | 19 | Matthew Payne | Grove Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.2978 | ||
| 2 | 17 | Brodie Kostecki | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.3286 | 0.0308 | 0.0308 |
| 3 | 2 | Ryan Wood | Walkinshaw TWG Racing | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 1:21.3533 | 0.0555 | 0.0247 |
| 4 | 26 | Kai Allen | Grove Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.6635 | 0.3657 | 0.3102 |
| 5 | 888 | William Brown | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.7397 | 0.4419 | 0.0762 |
| 6 | 18 | Anton De Pasquale | Team 18 | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:21.7564 | 0.4586 | 0.0167 |
| 7 | 10 | Zach Bates | Matt Stone Racing | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:21.7975 | 0.4997 | 0.0411 |
| 8 | 7 | James Golding | Blanchard Racing Team | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.8313 | 0.5335 | 0.0338 |
| 9 | 88 | Broc Feeney | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.9130 | 0.6152 | 0.0817 |
| 10 | 1 | Chaz Mostert | Walkinshaw TWG Racing | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 1:21.9323 | 0.6345 | 0.0193 |
| Q1 | |||||||
| 11 | 55 | Thomas Randle | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.9269 | 0.6291 | |
| 12 | 3 | Aaron Cameron | Blanchard Racing Team | Ford Mustang GT | 1:21.9601 | 0.6623 | 0.0332 |
| 13 | 8 | Andre Heimgartner | Brad Jones Racing | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 1:21.9787 | 0.6809 | 0.0186 |
| 14 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Tickford Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:22.0660 | 0.7682 | 0.0873 |
| 15 | 4 | Jack Le Brocq | Matt Stone Racing | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:22.0748 | 0.777 | 0.0088 |
| 16 | 38 | Rylan Gray | Dick Johnson Racing | Ford Mustang GT | 1:22.0996 | 0.8018 | 0.0248 |
| 17 | 99 | Cooper Murray | Erebus Motorsport | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:22.1109 | 0.8131 | 0.0113 |
| 18 | 500 | David Reynolds | Team 18 | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:22.1416 | 0.8438 | 0.0307 |
| 19 | 777 | Declan Fraser | PremiAir Racing | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:22.1651 | 0.8673 | 0.0235 |
| 20 | 96 | Macauley Jones | Brad Jones Racing | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 1:22.2509 | 0.9531 | 0.0858 |
| 21 | 31 | Jayden Ojeda | PremiAir Racing | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:22.2758 | 0.978 | 0.0249 |
| 22 | 14 | Cameron Hill | Matt Stone Racing | Toyota GR Supra A90 | 1:22.4747 | 1.1769 | 0.1989 |
| 23 | 9 | Jobe Stewart | Erebus Motorsport | Chev Camaro ZL1 | 1:22.5521 | 1.2543 | 0.0774 |
| 24 | 11 | Jackson Walls | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford Mustang GT | 1:22.6011 | 1.3033 | 0.049 |
This article first appeared on Speedcafe.com, a sister site to MotorRacing.com.