Reynolds and Canto Finally Get That Enduro
After a bittersweet finish at last year's Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, David Reynolds and Dean Canto finally nab an endurance race win.
The Bottle-O's David Reynolds broke through for his first career V8 Supercars win at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600 today, co-driver Canto claiming his second.
"We had a good car all day, faultless by the boys, they did an awesome job in the pitstop. Deano did an awesome job," Reynolds said straight after the race.
The Bottle-O racer drove from ARMOR ALL Pole Position, having started in the car, and battled hard up the front with the #22 Holden Racing Team Commodore of James Courtney/Greg Murphy, which led the majority of the race and looked on for a strong result after the car was rebuilt overnight after a collision yesterday.
But it wasn’t to be for the pair who was the hard luck story of the endurance season, Courtney’s car braking a steering arm on lap 82 of 102.
Also on the podium were Fabian Coulthard/Luke Youlden, 1.18sec behind. It has been a dramatic weekend for the pairing who were highly rated coming into the weekend but suffered suspension damage yesterday, the Lockwood Racing crew at the circuit well into the early hours of the morning to repair the Commodore.
And in third position it was veteran Russell Ingall, paired with American-based Aussie star Ryan Briscoe, claiming another surfboard 10 years on from his last win at the street circuit. Post-race, he said it felt like a win.
Jamie Whincup/Paul Dumbrell weren’t far behind coming home in fourth, with Lee Holdsworth/Craig Baird rounding out the top five and the first Erebus Mercedes home.
Rick Kelly/Reindler were right behind in the Jack Daniel’s Nissan, with Garth Tander/Nick Percat, Craig Lowndes/Warren Luff, Will Davison/Steve Owen and Michael Caruso/Daniel Gaunt making up the top 10.
The most important omission from the top 10 was Mark Winterbottom/Steve Richards, after a broken damper kept the #5 in pit lane and caused them to lost two laps. Winterbottom came home in 18th – not ideal for his Championship run.
Click here for full race results.
Lowndes – who with teammate Warren Luff were awarded the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, recognising the strongest performance across the endurance events – still leads the Championship race, by just six points ahead of teammate Whincup.
Winterbottom is 88 behind, and Will Davison 121 points adrift. Coulthard has moved back up into fifth after his podium finish. Click here for full Championship points.
The next event is the Sargent Security Phillip Island from November 22-24, in Victoria, and sees a shift back to the 60/60 Super Sprint format.
