Erebus Motorsport has endured a tough day on the Gold Coast, as they managed very wet conditions through the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.

The Erebus Commodores weren’t able to make the most out of the morning’s 20-minute qualifying session, with Reynolds and Wood set to start the 300-kilometre mini marathon from 23^rd and 24^th respectively.

When the lights went out, it was co-driver Luke Youlden that impressed. The #9 driver made up a whopping seven spots on the start, dodging his competitors on a very slippery surface.

Youlden made his way to 14^th, and Pither 22^nd before the driver change window opened on lap 34 and both drivers swapped out.

Wood made a clean getaway, but it took some improvising for car #9. The driver’s door was unable to open after earlier damage, forcing the driver change to happen through the window.

The second compulsory stop ran a lot smoother; pitting under a Safety Car, a double stack saw Reynolds and Wood return to the field 19^th and 21^st.

Both Holden’s showed some pace when the rain eased and make some moves, but around a track where it’s typically hard to pass, Reynolds and Wood finished 17^th and 22^nd.

The team are feeling confident for tomorrow with skies expected to clear up and Friday’s faster pace also predicted.

They are back on track for qualifying tomorrow at 9:45am local time, ahead of the Top 10 Shootout and a second race.

David Reynolds – #9 Erebus Penrite Racing
“A bit of a cluster of errors today; our car just didn’t suit the wet conditions. We were able to get a bit of pace when it did dry up but we still weren’t where we needed to be. We think we know why and we need to rectify it for tomorrow if it rains again, but we are hoping for drier conditions as we have strong cars in the dry. Our driver change hurt us and we lost 20-seconds there before I made an error and lost a few more and I just couldn’t battle for anything.”

Luke Youlden – #9 Erebus Penrite Racing
“My start was pretty mega, the sea just parted for me down the left-hand side of the track so I took advantage of it. It was actually the only part of the road I could see so I just went for it and it worked out. I felt the car was pretty good early on and up against the other co-drivers. It was pretty slippery in some spots but I just chipped through and was happy to make up a heap of spots. Unfortunately, we got caught up with Premat; I knew we touched but I didn’t think it was as big as it was. We thought we were just kicking the door out but was a bit more serious than that and that really cost us a decent result.”

Dale Wood – #99 Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing
“A bit of a struggle for the team today, not really sure what direction we need to go to get our cars to work in the wet. It’s very difficult to get around here so we are hoping we don’t get a wet one tomorrow and it’s dry because I think we will be in much better shape.”

Chris Pither – #99 GB Galvanizing Racing
“First taste on track for me today was in the wet and it was fairly uneventful but not great either. We struggled mostly for drive, had very limited traction which hurt the car; it was great in other areas but we couldn’t do much with it because we were so limited off the corner. That made it really hard to make any progress so disappointed overall and hopefully its dry tomorrow and we can bounce back.”