With our shakedown complete and the year’s first official test day just one day away, what better time to announce our leading ladies for 2017.
David Reynolds gave chassis EMH01, otherwise known as Jupiter, a warm Erebus welcome today, completing 60-kilometres around Sydney Motorsport Park.
“It’s been a successful day after the month the boys have spent building the car; she’s a good little buggy,” Reynolds said.
“They’ve worked incredibly hard to make it to this day, and to see the car roll out pretty much faultless is an awesome achievement, they deserve a huge pat on the back.
“The crew probably worked 100 hours in the last few days, it’s been absolutely ridiculous, and it’s a big credit to them.
“It felt really nice to drive; we had a few little issues which are quite normal but we’ll fix those.”
Teammate Dale Wood also had a steer, before taking over Reynolds’ 2016 contender, aka Mercury, tomorrow.
“It was really nice to be able to get those couple of laps in, although it sounds so minimal they are really valuable laps to do prior to getting into a new car,” Wood said.
“It gives me the night to think about things, familiarize myself and make sure I’m comfortable.
“I’m looking forward to stepping into Dave’s (2016) car tomorrow, it’s had a huge birthday over Christmas and it’s looking like a new car, but it’s also nice to know I’m getting into a car that finish the year so strong.
“There’s no doubt Dave did an awesome job and I have a lot of work ahead of me to keep that car up in that sort of form; hopefully we have a good day tomorrow and build on what that car was doing and can start the season strong.”
Both drivers will hit the track tomorrow for the all-in test, ahead of the season opener, Clipsal 500, next week.