David Reynolds – Coates Hire Newcastle 500 Wrap Up

School is out for the year and although it wasn’t quite the way we were wanting to finish the season; we came away with sixth in the Championship and fifth in the Teams points.

Friday, we rolled out pretty strong finishing with a 2^nd and 5^th. It took a little while to find our groove and the field was extremely close. The top eight were less than a tenth and a half between each other, there wasn’t much in it at all.

Come Saturday we didn’t qualify the best, with 9^th but it was enough to put us through to the Top Ten Shootout. I then managed to pick up a couple of spots to place us 7^th on the grid ahead of the race. I got a relatively good start and got lucky when Whincup went spearing off, finishing just short of a podium in 4^th.

Qualifying is key around Newcastle and so my aim was so obviously qualify well on Sunday. I managed to get a spot in the Shootout again and went from 8^th to 7^th. Unfortunately, I was caught up in a racing incident and was pushed into the tyre barrier on the opening lap. This forced me to take an unscheduled stop through pit lane to repair the damage. I was able to gain some positions when a Safety Car was brought out, which enabled me to get the lap back that I had lost. From there, 16^th was all I could manage.

It was a tough weekend. It was a little disappointing as we know we had the pace both days, but we just couldn’t turn it into the results we wanted. We just have to go into the break with some solid plans for next year and come back refreshed and ready to fight and get the results we know we are more than capable of getting.

A big thanks to all the crew for their hard work this season as well as all of my sponsors and supporters!

Looking forward to the break and seeing you all next year!

DR.

RESULTS

Friday 22^nd November

Practice 1 – 2^nd  

Practice 2 – 5^th

Saturday 23^rd November

Qualifying – 9^th

Top Ten Shootout – 7^th

Race 31 – 4^th

Sunday 24^th November

Qualified – 8^th

Top Ten Shootout – 7^th

Race 32 – 16^th