IF there was one driver happy to see the chequered flag after just six green-flag laps yesterday, it was David Reynolds.
After charging out of the gates strongly at last month’s Bathurst 500, this weekend’s Melbourne SuperSprint has been more of a challenge for the #20 Tradie Beer Camaro driver.
But he was at least able to cash in on the only race of four where he started in the top half of the field, to place fourth in the Saturday sprint.
That was aided by the dramatic crash between leaders Matt Payne and Cam Waters, which gifted Reynolds two places.
It also reduced the overall Race 3 laps from 14 to 10, which was a welcome relief given Reynolds’ car “was actually quite bad”.
“That was the most understeer I had for the whole weekend and if the race is any longer, I would have been in struggle town,” he said.
“So, I’m kind of glad it was shortened.”
There was a reality check on the other side of the Team 18 garage as Mark Winterbottom went from finishing second in Friday’s race to qualifying 17th and 23rd for the final two encounters.
“Not the best day. We just didn’t get qualifying right. We had a few dramas, but the car’s fast in the race, really fast,” said Winterbottom.
“With the Safety Car and really not many laps, we still past some cars, but if we had a clean race then, we know our car’s really fast.
“It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow, but we’re learning more about this car, and I was really happy with the speed in the race, so if we could qualify again, I think we’d be a lot further up, but that’s the nature of the Grand Prix.”
Supercars’ fourth and final race of the Albert Park round will start today at 10:25am AEDT.
