Challenging weekend for Reynolds at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown

David Reynolds has had a character building weekend at the 2021 Merlin Darwin Triple Crown. Typically a preferred track for the Penrite Mustang driver, the Hidden Valley circuit proved otherwise for the Kelly Grove Racing racer.

Reynolds was unable to place the #26 Penrite Mustang higher than 15th on the grid for the weekend and now sits 15th in the Repco Supercars Championship points standings. The 35-year-old was unable to find momentum at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown and on Saturday qualified as low as 25th with only one run in the session.

“We were hoping that by holding off in qualifying, we would save tyres and have a better strategy going into Sunday,” Reynolds said.

“But that wasn’t the case. The one run in the session just wasn’t enough and that really didn’t set us up for a good run come the race. We know that qualifying is key with such a tight field, and that certainly let us down.”

A chaotic start to race 12, Reynolds didn’t have much to lose and from the back of the pack managed to steer clear of the hustle and bustle and charged forward. With the field tight and only 38-laps in the race, Reynolds was able to pick off six positions and cross the line in 19th.

Reynolds had hopes of finding more pace come Sunday, but that wasn’t to be with the first qualifying session impacted by a brake issue, putting the #26 Mustang in 21st position. The Kelly Grove Racing team was able to quickly fix the issue and get the Penrite Mustang out for the second of the back-to-back qualifying sessions where he would finish 15th.

Whilst Reynolds was able to better his starting position by three places in race 13 it wasn’t the same for the final race of the weekend. The Penrite racer pushed hard to fight his way through the field, however in the closing stages of the race was sent onto the grass, dampening the #26 Penrite race position. Reynolds crossed the line 19th.

“Unfortunately, this weekend just wasn’t to be,” admitted Reynolds.

“Nothing went in our favour; it was a really tough weekend. We couldn’t find the right set up for the car and amongst that had a few mechanical dramas, so we really struggled.

“We’ll regroup as a team, review what went wrong and hopefully come back stronger for Townsville in three weeks’ time!”

Next stop on the calendar for the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship is the NTI Townsville 500, Queensland, July 9-11.

Results

Friday 18th June

Practice 1 – 7th

Practice 2 – 20th

Saturday 19th June

Qualifying (Race 12) – 25th

Race 12 – 19th

Sunday 20th June

Qualifying (Race 13) – 21st

Qualifying (Race 14) – 15th

Race 13 – 18th

Race 14 – 19th