THIS time 10 years ago, in September 2011, David Reynolds drove the Stratco-backed Commodore for Kelly Racing, however rumours were rife (correctly!) that he was going to leave the team and join Rod Nash’s The Bottle O-Falcon team based at Ford Performance Racing for 2012.
Today, he has ended up back at the same team (now known as Kelly Grove Racing) in a Penrite-backed Mustang, though a decade ago things were very frosty between the former Formula Ford champion and then Kelly team as his departure loomed.
We’ve dipped back into the vast Motorsport News archive recently acquired by V8 Sleuth parent company, AN1 Media, to see how it was reported at the time in its September 20 issue of Motorsport eNews.
This story originally appeared in Australian Motorsport eNews, Issue 223, September 20-26, 2011.
THE future of David Reynolds just got a whole lot more complicated, with Kelly Racing last week releasing a statement on the position of the driver of the Stratco Commodore.
KR appears to have responded to rumours that Reynolds, 26, is on the way to Rod Nash Racing to drive its Ford Performance Racing Falcon next season.
“We are aware of continuing speculation regarding the future of David Reynolds at Kelly Racing beyond 2011,” read the statement.
“Kelly Racing entered into an agreement with David Reynolds that concludes at the end of the 2012 season.
“As far as our team is concerned this agreement continues to bind both parties for this period.” KR CEO John Crennan was not able to clarify precisely what constituted by “an agreement” when contacted by eNews.
“We have said what we said, and my position has been, ‘If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is almost always a duck’,” he said.
The wording of the statement appears to be compatible with recent suggestions that there is no signed contract between Reynolds and Kelly Racing. The statement also does not say that it is not prepared to release Reynolds from any obligation, or any perceived obligation, under any circumstances, which would leave the way open for a settlement between the parties.
Reynolds did not shed any light on his situation when eNews approached him for a comment.
“I’m focussed on this weekend,” he said at Phillip Island. “We’ll worry about next week next week.”
Crennan said that there was not timeline to resolve the issue; “It could take as long as two years, depending on whether there is any legal action to be undertaken,” he said.
The situation has come about because of the change of heart that saw Lee Holdsworth deciding to move not to RNR but instead agree to join Stone Brothers Racing, in place of Alex Davison.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT …
As history shows, Reynolds did indeed move to The Bottle-O Falcon team for 2012 and stayed with the team until the end of 2015 before he departed for Erebus Motorsport.
He won the 2017 Bathurst 1000 for the team but departed at the end of 2020 and returned to the Kelly team, which had become Kelly Grove Racing in the wake of an early 2021 buy-in from Porsche racer Stephen Grove.
