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Townsville Supercars: Reynolds tops opening practice

A last-second lap from David Reynolds has seen the Erebus driver top the opening Supercars practice session on the streets of Townsville.

#36 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3: David Reynolds

#36 Erebus Motorsport Mercedes SLS AMG GT3: David Reynolds

Bob Gloyn Photography

David Reynolds, Erebus Motorsport Holden
David Reynolds, Erebus Motorsport Holden

Reynolds, who was on the podium in both races in Townsville last year as a Prodrive Racing driver, put on a second set of tyres to jump 22 spots on his final run to go fastest with a 1m12.869s.

That time left him just over one-hundredth clear of former team-mate Chaz Mostert at the top of the times.

However, with drivers complaining about a lack of grip throughout the session, Reynolds made it clear he’s not getting carried away with the time sheets just yet.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” he said. “The track must be pretty green because it doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of grip out there. Hopefully we can keep it up. It’s Practice 1, I’m not writing home about it yet.”

Mostert set the time that left him P2 in the closing minutes of the session, while Will Davison – who was just three-hundredths slower than Reynolds – also improved right at the end.

Tim Slade was the best of the drivers not the dip into the 12s, finishing fourth fastest with a 1m13.225s.

Brothers Rick and Todd Kelly were fifth and sixth fastest respectively, Rick having improved with around nine minutes of the session remaining (jumping to what was P1 at the time), while Todd chimed in with his lap right at the end.

Next in line was the two Holden Racing Team Commodores. James Courtney and Garth Tander actually set their best laps early in the session, going first and second fastest inside the first 10 minutes. Despite not improving late, the pair were still seventh and eight fastest, ahead of Michael Caruso and Mark Winterbottom.

Remarkably, none of the ‘factory’ Triple Eight cars were in the Top 15. Jamie Whincup was the best of the three T8 cars down in 15th, having hit the wall hard on the exit of Turn 3 on his last lap. Shane van Gisbergen was just 21st fastest, having run wide and taken out foam advertising boards at Turn 7 not once, but twice. And Craig Lowndes was 22nd after having a spin of his own late in the session.

Main series debutant Kurt Kostecki, meanwhile, did a decent job in the Team 18 Commodore; he was 26th and last, but less than a tenth slower than Erebus’s Aaren Russell.

 

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