BATHURST TRIUMPH
Reynolds claims maiden Mt Panorama win in bad weather
A HUMBLE underdog has won the Great Race around Mount Panorama in a wild wet weather marathon that went down to the wire before its champion finally prevailed.
Holden’s David Reynolds and co-driver Luke Youlden narrowly edged out Scott Pye and Fabian Coulthard to the finish line in this year’s Bathurst 1000 which packed in plenty of late drama for the 56,042 fans in attendance.
Post race, an exhausted Reynolds said his support team were critical to the upset victory. “I am absolutely spent,” he said. “This bloke [co-driver Youlden] drove unbelievably all day. My crew was faultless. Man, it was just a perfect day. It was so good.”
Ford’s Scott McLaughlin looked a likely winner early before engine problems forced him to withdraw from the race.
IN a David versus Goliath win, Holden driver David Reynolds claimed his maiden Bathurst 1000 at a wet and wild Mount Panorama yesterday.
Reynolds finished almost four seconds ahead of fellow Holden driver Scott Pye, with Ford’s Fabian Coulthard third in the 161-lap classic.
The 32-year-old’s best previous finish in the Great Race was last year’s second placing.
Reynolds – with co-driver Luke Youlden – lifted the spirits of his Erebus Motorsport team, who were forced to switch from Mercedes to Holden last season after a horror run of results.
Yet the battling outfit – owned by tattooed extrovert Betty Klimenko – emerged triumphant in a race held in treacherous conditions.
Reynolds finished ahead of Pye – from the cashed-up Walkinshaw Racing outfit – while Coulthard is from Ford powerhouse DJR Team Penske, owned by US motorsport giant Roger Penske.
“This is a David versus Goliath victory. What a win,” Supercars great Mark Skaife said.
Reynolds had been more well known for making the “shoey” celebration popular on the Supercars podium.
And he showed off the move again when he celebrated the victory that lifted him from 10th to sixth in the drivers’ season standings.
Reynolds fought back tears as he thanked an overwhelmed Klimenko trackside.
He snapped up a Supercars lifeline from her when he was dumped from Ford’s heavyweight Prodrive Racing Australia at the end of 2015 despite finishing third in the series.
“This is the icing on the cake,” Reynolds said.
“I had been wanting to pay them back (Erebus) but I had not had a lot of results lately but this ticks every box.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet, but the last couple of laps I was trying to hold back the tears and I was half throwing up be- cause I was so nervous.”
Co-driver Youlden won on his 18th attempt, while it was Holden’s 32nd Bathurst win.
The stage was set for a thrilling final six-lap sprint to the chequered flag when the sixth safety car emerged after Nissan’s Simona de Silvestro hit the pit straight wall.
Defending Supercars series champion Shane van Gisbergen blew his chance when he slid his Holden off at The Chase and suffered a puncture vying for second with 11 laps left.
At one stage the race resembled dodgem cars as even six-time Bathurst champion Craig Lowndes slipped and slid around the mountain as rain fell throughout the sevenhour-plus epic.
Record-breaking Ford driver Scott McLaughlin did not survive the horror conditions, lasting just 74 laps before engine dramas ended his race.
McLaughlin came crashing back to earth a day after taking pole in two minutes, 03.83 seconds – the fastest Supercars lap ever seen on the Mount Panorama street circuit.
The gaffe cost him the series lead. His Ford teammate Coulthard now leads the series, 91 points ahead of Holden’s Jamie Whincup.
McLaughlin is third, 97 points adrift of Coulthard.
Despite the wet, 56,042 fans flocked to the track yesterday, pushing total four-day attendance to 205,693 – the second biggest overall crowd.