Erebus Motorsport have scored another top ten in Ipswich today, making it their 12th for the season.
David Reynolds was the quickest Erebus Commodore during the afternoon’s 15-minute qualifying session, securing a time fast enough for 12th. He eventually lined up 11th, with Jamie Whincup copping a 5-spot grid penalty.
Reynolds was quick off the line, and temporarily moved into ninth before settling inside the top ten.
With a strategy focused on finding track position, Reynolds pitted as early as lap seven for just three fresh tyres.
As the rest of the field filed into pitlane, Reynolds moved into seventh; however, with the competition behind him now on fresher rubber, the #9 driver fell to tenth before the finish line.
Dale Wood started today’s race from 18th on the grid, with just half a second separating him from pole position.
Wood’s race was off to a slow start, after the #99 driver got bogged down and fell to P27 before the first turn.
Wood wasted no time in trying to redeem himself, and moved up a few spots before taking his pit stop on lap 14.
Taking on a full set of rubber, the #99 driver raced on to 23rd before the chequered flag.
The team are back on track tomorrow morning, ahead of 200-kilometres of racing.
David Reynolds – #9 Erebus Penrite Racing
“Today we qualified 12th which is disappointing after being right up there in practice. On the old tyre the car was really good and I think we de-tuned it and made it too stable for qualifying. We ran three sets of tyres where most people only ran two, and unfortunately, we just got slower every set. It’s all part of the learning process and hopefully we are a little bit better in qualifying tomorrow.
“I got a decent start in the race but then lost a spot early on. We pitted really early which probably wasn’t the best strategy in hindsight, but it was the best call to make for the information we had; we undercut people but it made us really slow at the end. I think if we had a better strategy we could have finished seventh, which isn’t far up from where we were so it wasn’t so bad.”
Dale Wood – #99 Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing
“Qualifying wasn’t too bad, the field was super tight and we qualified 18th. I had a shocker of a start in the race, held it on the line for a while and used too much clutch and lost a bunch of spots and went back to virtually last. I felt the car was really strong and was able make a heap of ground in the first couple of laps and then I was having a few battles with Shae Davies which wasn’t ideal. The car was fast in the race, we were just coming from a long way back, but it isn’t bad, I think tomorrow could be good if we just tune it up and build on what we had today.”