Reynolds takes down big names in title chase
THE tiny team of Erebus Motorsport has turned supercars giant killer with David Reynolds humbling the championship contenders in the final race at the Australian Grand Prix event in Melbourne yesterday.
The reigning Bathurst champion won the 13-lap sprint race around Albert Park, while BJR pilot Nick Percat was second and Red Bull’s Jamie Whincup third, making the defending champion the most consistent across the four races and winner of the Larry Perkins Trophy.
Reynolds shocked the motorsport world last year when he claimed the Bathurst 1000 for the Holden ZB Commodore-powered privateer team.
With the series heading to Tasmania for Round 3 at Sym- mons Plains in two weeks, Reynolds has now turned his attention to a supercars championship. “We are just trying to set high goals,” Reynolds said.
“If you aim for 10th, you’re only going to finish 10th.
“We are aiming to be in the hunt for the championship and that’s what we are doing.
“It has been the best start to any year I’ve ever had.
“To be second in the championship is the furthest up the leaderboard at this stage.” Whincup, who was on pole, blamed his bad start — he said fiddling with his drink bottle broke his concentration.
“I expect more from myself,” he said.
“The car was OK but certainly not the quickest today.
“Overall, to come home with the Larry Perkins Trophy for the first time is fantastic.
“It was a great effort by everyone in the team to end up where we are at the end of the second round of the championship this year.
“We’ll keep the head down, there’s plenty of work to do behind the scenes to fix the car but we’ll slowly chip away.”
Whincup’s Red Bull teammate Shane Van Gisbergen leads the championship on 486 points from Reynolds on 437, then come Scott McLaughlin 425, Chaz Mostert 416 and Whincup 406.