Erebus Motorsport has moved forward in the opening sprint races at Pukekohe Park Raceway’s ITM Auckland SuperSprint, with a best race result of eighth today.

After struggling to find the pace the Erebus Commodore displayed in Friday’s practice, David Reynolds qualified for today’s two 35-lappers 13^th and 10^th respectively.

The #9 driver managed to hold his place during the opening race, while teammate Shae Davies improved his qualifying position of 26^th by three spots, jumping to 23^rd before passing the chequered flag.

In the later race, Reynolds was able to find more grip on the hard compound and get a jump off the start line.

He converted his 10^th place starting spot into 8^th before the first corner, and was able to manage his tyres to the end and maintain position.

Davies continued his consistent run and diced with his competitors, but came unstuck mid-race when he locked his tyres entering turn five. He nursed his car home and ultimately finished 25^th.

Tomorrow’s on track action features another two qualifying sessions, ahead of the weekend’s final two sprint races.

Shae Davies, #4 Holden Commodore

“We came in after yesterday and we thought it would be a strong day, but the track obviously evolved overnight and we had too much understeer in qualifying. We tried to do some small changes to improve that and it just wasn’t enough in the long window during the first race.

“We made a big change for the next one and it’s now in the right direction. I feel a lot better about that change, we were a bit more conservative than David’s car so overnight we will go even further and I’m positive about the improvement we’ve made. It’s not quite enough yet but I think tomorrow will be better. You tend to finish where you start in these sprint races, so we need to have a good qualifying tomorrow and hopefully be a few more spots up the grid.”

David Reynolds, #9 Holden Commodore

“From Friday to Saturday we lost a bit of pace. The track changed a bit; we haven’t changed the car at all so that’s not the factor. We finished 13^th and 10^th in both qualifying sessions; the first one was very close, if I went half a tenth quicker I would have been just outside the top five. We did a slightly better job in the second qualifying session and ended up 10^th, but we were further off the pace. We made a small change to it but we need to go more again.

“The car was really hard on its rear tyres during the first race, so it made for a very hard race to the end. I was battling with Percat and it was really hard on the rear tyres. We made a few changes for the second race and it was a lot better on its tyres but the car had a lot more understeer and was probably the same pace, just doing it easier. It’s been a good day but I wish we stayed in the same performance window as yesterday, then I would be punching up the front somewhere.”