Cauchi: No magic bullet to Reynolds turnaround

Rolling out with a fast car, not a “magic bullet” was key to David Reynolds’ turnaround, says David Cauchi.

Reynolds entered Sandown with an average finish of 11.3 in the previous nine races.

It was in stark contrast to when he scored six podiums in the first 14 races.

Come Sandown, and Reynolds was on the pace, and was in the fight for a Sunday podium.

Reynolds was stunt by a red flag in Saturday qualifying, but managed to fight to 12th from 23rd.

A better run on Sunday vaulted Reynolds to the front, but he was overhauled by Will Brown for third with three laps remaining.

He finished the finale ninth to retain seventh in the championship.

Penrite Racing Team Principal Cauchi admitted the team started previous rounds on the back foot.

However, that wasn’t the case at Sandown, handing Reynolds a golden opportunity to capitalise.

“There are no magic bullets in this sport,” Cauchi told Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.

“We’re trying to chip away, learning the car every weekend.

“The speed is there, we just haven’t been able to pull it together over the last few weekends.

“We haven’t rolled out of the truck fast, and we haven’t been able to catch back up.

“This weekend, I feel like we rolled out in a much more known window.

“That sort of followed on.”

Brown chases Reynolds

It was a tougher weekend for milestone man Lee Holdsworth, who was 24th, 18th and 18th across the three sprints.

While a podium went begging - the last coming at Winton in May - Cauchi was pleased to see his cars back in the hunt.

"Dave’s qualifying on Saturday was compromised by the red flag,” Cauchi said.

“That’s one in a hundred, those things happen.

“There’s no one magic thing, but the team’s working really well together.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t hold onto the podium, we weren’t fast enough.

“But it’s good to see we’re back in the top five."

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