ENCOURAGING SIGNS IN FRIDAY PRACTICE ON THE GOLD COAST

David Reynolds and Lee Holdsworth kept it cool during Friday practice ahead of 500 kilometres of racing on the sunny Gold Coast this weekend.

With two practice sessions to get reacquainted with the streets of Surfers Paradise on Friday, the duo explored the limits as they got plenty of airtime over the circuit’s colossal kerbs, creating some incredible television shots in the process.

Holdsworth found exactly where the limits were in Practice 1, scraping the wall at the exit of the beachside back chicane in an eye-catching moment for the Supercars veteran.

The Penrite Racing crew surveyed the rear of Holdsworth’s car immediately, giving a diagnosis of no damage. He later rounded the day out P12 and P13 across the two sessions after triggering kerb strikes that caused the cancellation of his faster lap times.

Meanwhile Reynolds put on an encouraging display of speed to finish the day P6 and P5 on the timesheets, just +0.2119s off the fastest time of the day, as he got the wheels of car 26 back in motion for the first time since its heavy Bathurst shunt.

Practice 1

Reynolds: P6

Holdsworth: P12

Practice 2

Reynolds: P5

Holdsworth: P13

DRIVER COMMENTS

Reynolds said: “With the margin for error so small around here you have to build your confidence up in stages and we did that today for sure.”

“The car feels quick out of the truck today and we were top five so I want to take that into qualifying tomorrow.

“I feel the racing will be chaotic but I’m looking forward to getting out there and going hard for a good result.”

Holdsworth said: “Overall it wasn’t a bad day but unfortunately didn’t show our true pace after triggering the kerb strikes on my fastest laps. I’m pretty confident we’ve got speed up our sleeve to use for qualifying tomorrow.”

 

Penrite Racing is back on track tomorrow for Qualifying, a top ten shootout and the first 250km race of the weekend.