IN THE PRINCIPALS OFFICE: GOLD COAST 500

Gold Coast is one of the most unique circuits that we go to.

It is a spectacular setting, to race along the beautiful Surfers Paradise beach through the tight streets and chicanes is good fun.

It is a difficult circuit for the engineers, the setup required to go fast around here is not normal and the commitment the drivers need to go fast is impressive from where we sit.

We haven’t been there since 2019 and for this team the car was a Nissan, that’s how different it was.

It’s really all about getting over those kerbs as quickly as possible, so set-up wise it’s completely different to Bathurst, which was a very bittersweet race for our team.

We dealt with the disappointment of seeing car 26 taken out so early and picked ourselves up and put all our focus onto car 10 and we came home P6 with Lee (Holdsworth) and Matt Payne.

Their car was in such good condition once it got back to the workshop that we could have just polished it and put it back in the truck for the Gold Coast.

While car 26 presented a big repair job and we poured all of our resources into it.

I was very impressed with how the team worked together and got through the massive workload, credit to Ben our fabricator who looked excited about the challenge to repair the chassis and Matt Beal, our car 26 no.1 mechanic, lead the team to get the car rebuilt.

Everyone chipped in, and it was a huge team effort to have both cars loaded in our Penrite Racing transporter by midday last Friday for the trip to Gold Coast.

We go to every event with the desire to win and get the most out of the package we have, so this weekend won’t be any different. There is still lots to play for, particularly in the teams championship so we need to score maximum points for both cars.

There can be a perception that once a car is damaged severely that it’s never the same, which is a myth. It’s all just mechanical parts, if you put them back in the same place then there is no reason for it to be any different for Dave (Reynolds). I don’t believe in magic, it’s physics and science.

I just want to get the most out of our package and execute our races without any mistakes that cost us positions. We need to find a little more speed, particularly in qualifying, as that has a big bearing on your race results.

Lee has found some form since announcing his retirement and is very focussed on going out on a high. We have been working on some setup items for car 10 that have been working for him. We’ve had to learn fast this year and it isn’t easy in such a competitive championship.

I really want to see him get some strong results in his final four races to finish his full-time career the way he deserves.

My measure of a good weekend on the Gold Coast will be having to work out where to fit all the surfboards in the truck during pack up.

WATCH REYNOLDS AND HOLDSWORTH IN THE PENRITE PREVIEW FOR THE GOLD COAST HERE