Erebus Motorsport has recorded their strongest team result at Phillip Island today, David Reynolds crossing the line seventh with Anton De Pasquale right behind him in eighth.

Both made a superb start to their race; Reynolds went three-wide into turn one, Shane van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes surrounding him before the #9 driver made it out in fourth. De Pasquale also managed a pass on Chaz Mostert to take seventh before settling in for a long battle.

A steady first stint saw Reynolds and De Pasquale consolidate their positions before Reynolds got the call for fuel and tyres on lap 13. A flurry of cars entered the lane and it wasn’t long until De Pasquale joined his teammate.

The field settled in for their second spell, Reynolds now P5 with ADP following in ninth. De Pasquale put the pressure on Scott Pye and a pass was perfectly executed on lap 29 to see the #99 driver move into eighth. He wasn’t the only one with a battle on his hands, Reynolds dropping one spot to Craig Lowndes after an intense battle.

Mostert was the next to grab a piece of the action, nose to tail with the two Erebus drivers until he stole their spots, pushing Reynolds and De Pasquale into seventh and eighth before the finish line.

Reynolds heads into tomorrow’s race third in the Championship standings, with De Pasquale the top-performing rookie in 18th. The combined points place Erebus Motorsport fifth in the team’s rankings.

DAVID REYNOLDS: Started 6^th, Finished 7^th

“It wasn’t a bad day, but not our best either. We qualified seventh which was a good turn around, we made a small change on my last set of tyres and I went a fair bit quicker so I was happy to get near the front.

“I got a really good start in the race, sat in fourth but never showed any potential after that. We had a few good battles but didn’t have enough to fight with. The promising thing is we learnt a lot with Anton’s car, his car went in a different direction and is probably a bit faster so we’ll learn from that and hopefully go faster tomorrow. That’s why we’ve got him and that’s what teams are about; Anton did a fantastic job today.”

ANTON DE PASQUALE: Started 8^th, Finished 8^th

“We qualified ninth which ended eighth by the start, on the fourth row just behind Dave. I made a mistake on my last run when I was up but I don’t think we missed out on too much.

“I had a decent start and was able to make a position before I fell into my own race. I lost a bit of time in the middle start, held up by traffic, but the car was great the entire race. It’s a really good result, our first top ten and still with positions to spare. It was good to race some of the faster guys and battle it out, so I’m heading into tomorrow feeling confident we can do something similar.”