It’s been a long, hard season but a fruitful one for David Reynolds. He’s taken his first Bathurst win, added to his collection of podiums and racked up a heap of points on his way to 7th in the Drivers’ Championship. Before breaking up for Christmas, he gave us his verdict on the 2017 season, and what he expects to see in 2018…

David, your new car proved to be competitive this season. What sort of difference does that make to you?
DR: It means the world to us! As a team, we can challenge to win races and qualify up the front and be in with a fighting chance.

When did you have a good feel for how competitive the car was?
DR: It showed glimpses of it at the start of the year but we were a little behind the eight ball. It wasn’t until probably Sandown that it was on par with the top teams. Bathurst was good, and after that every time in the dry we have been competitive. We still have some weak areas to work at but we understand it more and are getting better.

What’s the most satisfying thing about 2017?
DR: Winning Bathurst, but not winning it on other people’s misfortunes, actually having pace the entire week; during practice, qualifying and the race, wet or dry, our car was fast.

What were your high and low points? We can probably guess…
DR: A low point would be Townsville, qualifying third, getting a great start and finishing nowhere (P11). That was disappointing, although last year we would have been happy with that, so it shows how much we have progressed and our expectations. A high, other than Bathurst, would be at Winton on the Saturday. We qualified 14th and got to 4th in the race. There’s been many highs this year, even Newcastle; on a brand-new track we qualified 2nd and 3rd, and probably should have won both races if we played our cards right and things didn’t go wrong.

Looking at the positives, how good was Bathurst?
DR: It’s huge, it’s the race everyone watches regardless of whether they watch the Championship, everyone remembers it. We are only a little team that do everything ourselves, we make our own parts and it’s all our own IP, we’re at the end of pit lane where no one really expects us to do anything outstanding, but we won the biggest race of the year!

What are you most proud of?
DR: Many things. The whole year, the evolution from the start of the year. Our pit stops weren’t amazing so the boys and girls improved and we got better and became one of the fastest teams in pit lane. The car wasn’t the fastest and we built heaps of parts and tried different things and turned it into a race winning car.

One thing you learnt about the team/yourself?
DR: One thing I have learnt about the team is how hard working and passionate they are. One thing I learnt about myself is how competitive I am, not just in lap times or that sort of thing, but I have a very competitive nature.

What are your thoughts on 2018?
DR:  We go into next year with a new car, the ZB Commodore, a couple of new chassis and a new driver, so hopefully we can start the first race on a high. It’s going to be different though, we know our cars are fast and we rely on that.

How do you expect Anton to go?
DR: To be honest, it’s hard to say. He’s a good, fast driver and he’s shown a lot of potential in all his feeder categories. Only time will tell, but I think he will do well for us.

The Evaluation Day was the first time we saw the pair of you really working together. Is that a sign of things to come?
DR: I’ll try and help him as much as I can. Regardless of whether he wins or I win, it’s a win for the team.

Bring it on!