Erebus Motorsport has endured another tough day at the office, as they round out their weekend at the Auckland SuperSprint.
David Reynolds was the first of the pair to cross the line in 13th, with Dale Wood in 20th.
Qualifying kicked off the day and with no Top 10 Shootout like usual, it would determine the final grid. Reynolds pumped out a time quick enough for 10th spot, while Wood struggled to get the perfect lap and claimed 22nd on the grid.
A speedy start by Reynolds saw him jump three spots to 7th before turn one, however a nose to tail at the hairpin on the same lap slowed him down. The #9 driver made his way around the carnage but dropped back to 11th.
His teammate Wood wasn’t so fortunate, making an excursion through the grass and copping a flat front tyre before being forced into pit lane.
Re-joining the field, the Erebus duo raced on until Reynolds made his first stop for tyres and fuel on lap 17.
Wood followed in shortly, and was required to stop again soon after with a delamination alert on his Holden. The #99 driver reacted quickly and was set for a 49-lap race sprint to the finish.
With no Safety Car called, Reynolds pit once again on lap 37 before taking the chequered flag.
The team now look ahead to the final round of the Championship in just under three weeks’ time, the Newcastle 500.
David Reynolds – #9 Erebus Penrite Racing
“We missed the setup window in qualifying and I didn’t do the best job I could have; I probably should have been 8th, I was about a tenth shy of my best lap.
“Starting tenth is pretty average for us these days but I got a really good start and jumped the three guys in front of me but got tangled up in the turn one incident when Waters took everyone out. We raced around but didn’t have much to play with after that, sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t. We’re looking forward to the Newcastle and hopefully have a bit more pace up our sleeves.”
Dale Wood – #99 Erebus GB Galvanizing Racing
“Unfortunately, we had a bit of a rough qualifying, we sold ourselves a bit short because we used up an extra set of our tyres yesterday so that made things hard to get a really good lap. This place just created for such tight times, the whole field is spread by stuff all.
“I got a decent start, this car consistently gets off the line well but then I got caught up in a bit of the hairpin carnage and got a flat tyre; that meant we had to pit really early. I think we had OK speed once we got back out and got going but then it meant we had to do two really long stints on tyres. It got worse again because we had a front right wheel come loose and I had to pit again and that meant for doing a 49-lape stint on my last set of tyres which is a really long way around here. They hung in pretty well but unfortunately we were a bit out of the game to capitalise on the positions.”