AN experiment in the final leg of the Melbourne SuperSprint reaffirmed one thing to David Reynolds: that he and Mark Winterbottom’s styles still differ.
Reynolds and Winterbottom were teammates for four years at Tickford Racing from 2012-15, when the Campbellfield squad ran under the guises of Ford Performance Racing and then Prodrive Racing Australia.
They’ve been reunited this year at Team 18 with good effect, instantly propelling Charlie Schwerkolt’s outfit up the pecking order.
For Reynolds though, Albert Park wasn’t quite as kind to him as the Bathurst season-opener had been, with Winterbottom taking the limelight via a Friday podium.
‘Frosty’ has consistently had strong race pace in 2024 (albeit generally poor qualifying results), leading Reynolds to mimic the 42-year-old’s set-up come the Sunday race.
It proved a useful lesson.
“For the Sunday race, we made a big swing to go towards Mark’s car, which is very different to my traditional style of driving, and didn’t really sort of transfer to pace, so it made a really hard race for me,” said Reynolds.
“That’s one thing we’re going to know for next time, that Mark’s going to obviously like different things than I do, which will really help us go forward.”
Reynolds otherwise hailed a “fantastic weekend (with) not a scratch on the car” – a rarity after a weekend of intense Supercars scraps.
“We’re fifth in the championship, third in the teams’, and we’re looking to go forward,” he added.
Next up is the ITM Taupō Super400 on April 19-21.
