Reynolds recovery drive nets a top ten finish for Penrite Racing

Beaurepaires Sydney Supernight

Sunday, March 6

Repco Supercars Championship

 

Qualifying 

Lee Holdsworth: P11

David Reynolds: P15

After rain flooded the circuit overnight Reynolds and Holdsworth hit the track with wet tyres to begin Qualifying for Race 2.

As rain eased the circuit dried quickly and the Penrite Racing drivers were the first in pit lane for slick tyres with only 4 minutes left to run in the session. Holdsworth jumped straight to the pointy end of the field to sit P6 in the dying seconds but was bumped at the death, only just missing out on the Top 10 shootout to start P11 with Reynolds P15.

 

Race 2 – 300km, 77 Laps

David Reynolds: P9

Lee Holdsworth: P16

Penrite Racing was forced to dig deep on the final day of the 2022 Supercars Championship season opening round at the Beaurepaires Sydney Supernight.

Holdsworth elected to start with the SuperSoft tyre and made the most of the extra grip, carving his way through the field to be P5 by the end of the opening lap. Reynolds was caught up in the battle pack on the first lap and forced to pit after contact with Macauley Jones at turn four left the #26 Mustang with a damaged front left tyre.

The heavens opened on lap six and Holdsworth was one of the first to react, opting to pit for wet tyres. The gamble didn’t pay off, the Bathurst Champion lasting just five laps before returning to the pits for slicks.

Both Penrite Racing drivers were then in recovery mode for the middle stages of the race. After two safety car periods played out, Holdsworth was P2 on track but out of sync with the effective leaders while Reynolds, now on the SuperSoft tyre, was making a charge and into P7.

With 13 laps remaining, rain began to fall again and Holdsworth was the first to respond, returning to wet tyres while Reynolds made the switch three laps later. A late safety car condensed the field, Reynolds finishing P9 and Holdsworth P16.

The second round of the Repco Supercars Championship will be held at Tasmania’s Symmons Plains Raceway March 26 – 27.

 

Penrite Racing car #26 Driver, David Reynolds:

Championship position: 16

“If you told me at the end of the opening lap after the contact and almost going down a lap that I’d finish in the top ten I would’ve taken it for sure. It was such a crappy way to start the day but it was head down, bum up from there to try and get something out of the day and we did with P9.”

“We had a team goal to run top 10 and we did that in both wet and dry conditions this weekend so it’s a small tick, and we’ll take plenty out of this weeknd that will make us better next time out.”

 

Penrite Racing car #10 Driver, Lee Holdsworth:

Championship position: 20

 “I got off to a great start, jumped up six positions to be running P5 and holding down some great pace. It was a big improvement from yesterday’s car, we made some major changes overnight in the right direction so I had something to fight with today but unfortunately the call to go to the wet early was wrong in hindsight. The rain didn’t come and we were on the back foot for the rest of the day.”

“We finished up P16, we probably should have been a solid top 10 which would have been nice to walk away from the first weekend with but we’ll get back to work before the next round with a couple of straight cars so that’s great and with time to do further development and hopefully come back with some speedy parts for Tassie.”