Door slams on Reynolds’ chances

DAVE Reynolds’ bid to back up his Mount Panorama win with a Gold Coast 600 victory was ruined when the Bathurst winner was forced to break into his own car during a Surfers Paradise horror story.

On a wet and wild day on the Gold Coast, Reynolds’ race was ruined before he even turned a lap with a jammed door forcing him to enter his Bathurst 1000 winning Commodore through a window.

In comical scenes during their driver change pit-stop, Erebus pit-crew was forced to break the driver’s side window when they could not open the door to get co-driver Luke Youlden out — or Reynolds in.

The pit-crew then pulled Youlden hands first through the window in an awkward exit for the Bathurst-winning driver following a gruelling 38-lap stint.

Reynolds then went in head first to begin a 63-lap rescue mission with the calamity sending the giant-killing car to the back of the grid in a major blow.

Youlden admitted making his exit through the still functioning passenger door may have been a better option.

“In hindsight that may have been the way to go,’’ Youlden said. “But the decision was made on the run and that is what happened.’’

Reynolds made his mission to score back-to-back “Endurance Cup’’ wins a long shot when he qualified for the first of the two Gold Coast races in 23nd. But Youlden gave the Mount Panorama conquering duo a chance when he stormed through the field in a stunning opening.

Defying the horrid conditions that made even seeing difficult, Youlden shot gunned his way off the line to steal eight places. But the co-driver’s luck soon turned when he tagged Alex Premat after the Frenchmen slipped and spun on lap five.

It looked as though Youlden had survived the hit unscathed, but the collision had jammed the door as he would soon find out.

The duo struggled their way home to finish 17th as Chaz Mostert won to remain in a five-way title fight.