Reynolds: No more regrets!

In career-best form and having vaulted to fourth in the V8 Supercars drivers' championship, David Reynolds has declared himself a rival not a back-up for teammate and points leader Mark Winterbottom in the 2015 title chase.

He has made it clear that there will be no more biding his time behind Winterbottom as he did in the Saturday race in Townsville, where he chose to finish second rather than risking a crack at the lead and potentially taking him out.

Winterbottom wasn't inclined to show the same caution in the Sunday Townsville 200km race, benefitting from a brief issue in Reynolds' engine and subsequent driving error to make the pass and take the win.

The Bottle-O Ford Falcon FG X driver trails Winterbottom's Prodrive Racing Australia Pepsi Max Ford by 273 points and says he can't let the gap blow out any wider at this weekend's Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.

"I have to start passing him to bring the margin down," Reynolds told v8supercars.com.au.

"If it's clean and I can make it stick no dramas.

"But it is the hardest thing to pass your teammate cleanly and do it without pissing anyone off."

Reynolds now admits he regrets not having a crack at Winterbottom in the Saturday race.

"Of course I wish I had taken the risk," he said.

"Life is full of regrets."

This is not the first time Reynolds has later rued his caution in a race. In the 2012 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 he finished a close second behind Jamie Whincup, but later admitted he made an error not bidding for the lead.

Reynolds goes to Ipswich the centre of speculation about his future as his contract to drive the Rad Nash-owned PRA satellite entry expires at the end of this year.

While Reynolds would like to stay at PRA/RNR, the team had made it clear it was looking for more aggression and better form from him in 2015.

Along with Fabian Coulthard, James Moffat and Tim Slade, he is a 'name' driver potentially on the market for 2016.

Reynolds said that made his bid for the championship more difficult because PRA would probably prefer Winterbottom and the 'factory' car won the title.

"Obviously there is a lot more vested interest in that car than my car in the team," he said.

With Bottle-O's naming rights sponsorship also up for renewal in 2015, Reynolds is unsure what the future holds, although pitlane rumour is linking him to other teams.

"I am just honestly trying to do my best in every race that I can. And that will hopefully be enough to get a new deal at my team or at another team.

"I think I will end up somewhere but I just don't know where."

The 30-year old's career has been revitalised by the new FG X Falcon this season. He has already claimed one win, five other podiums finishes, one ARMOR ALL Pole Position and seven other top four starts.

He has vaulted into championship contention after a slow beginning to the year and has no doubt he is in with a shot at a first drivers' championship.

"I think I can win the championship," he said. "If you are in the top eight in the championship you have a chance to win. Jamie Whincup is eighth in the championship and he is 391 points behind and he is still very much a chance to win.

"If he is a chance, I am a chance.

"Motorsport is a lot more enjoyable at the front of the pack than down the back," he added. "Everyone has put a lot of hard work into the car, the car is starting to come good and it is just making my job a lot easier."

Reynolds arrives at QueenslandRaceway with no podiums and a best finish of fourth in his 13 V8 Supercars starts at the short but technical six-turn 3.12km circuit.

"It looks simple but it's actually quite complex," he explained. "Turn one and two are high speed and quite bumpy, so it's quite hard to control the car. Turn two leads on to a long straight, which is very important.

"Then your last four corners are all quite big braking, so you need lots of drive traction. You need a lot of different elements strong in the car, because sometimes you can have a car that is quite strong in the last two sectors but not be strong through turn one and turn two."