DAVID Reynolds’ happy start to life at Team 18 hit a snag overseas.
Reynolds’ slightly rebranded #20 Tradie Camaro rolled out quick if loose in practice for the Taupō Super400, but there’d be little to show for it by the end of the weekend.
Reynolds finished a wet Race 1 in 16th, not helped by being tangled in an incident involving Brodie Kostecki, before steering woes in the Sunday contest left him to limp home 24th and last.
“I had a bit of a drama, big steering drama,” the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner explained.
“It was like a power assist drama, engine heating drama.
“There was a lot going on, I’d turn into a corner, the steering would lock up, and I’d just go around the outside, and other times I’d turn in to be super loose, and almost spin, so it was really hard to drive.
“We ended up a lap down, so all in all, it was quite an average weekend but we’re going to learn a lot.
“We need to learn more about our car and each other.”
Teammate Mark Winterbottom felt 11th in Race 1 was a missed opportunity, but noted 17th was the maximum on a disappointing Sunday.
“In the dry that was all we had,” he said.
“We really struggled with pace, there’s no hiding behind it. We just weren’t good enough.”
It’s a stark downturn for an outfit which entered the round third in the teams’ championship, and had collected a trophy at Albert Park via Winterbottom.
“I think we’re a team that’s going to have good days and bad days, but when you have a good run and you get a podium and stuff like that, you feel like you expect that every race,” continued ‘Frosty’.
“So we’ll rebuild, we’ll go home, get better and then we’ll go to Perth and try and turn around a bad weekend.”
Wanneroo Raceway hosts Round 4 of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship on May 17-19.
