Reynolds drives into history books with Gen3 pole

David Reynolds scored his 16th Supercars Championship pole position when he topped the Sunday Shootout at the Thrifty Newcastle 500.

However, it’s also landed him among a unique group in championship history books.

Reynolds’ pole position aboard Grove Racing’s #26 Penrite Mustang means he has taken pole positions across three different eras of cars in the championship.

His first career pole in Townsville in 2012 came in FPR and Rod Nash’s The Bottle-O Falcon FG during the Project Blueprint era, and his next 14 poles came in the Car of the Future/Gen2 era from 2013 to 2022.

Pole position in Newcastle in the debut weekend of Gen3 means that the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner joins a very select list of just 10 drivers to have claimed poles across three distinct eras of the championship.

The drivers with three poles across three eras are Bob Jane, Ian Geoghegan, Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes, Garth Tander, Jason Bright and Reynolds.

Jane and Geoghegan’s poles came across the Appendix J, Improved Production and Group C eras of the championship.

Brock and Johnson’s poles spanned Group C, Group A and five-litre touring cars/V8 Supercars.

Skaife spanned Group A, five-litre touring cars/V8 Supercars and then Project Blueprint.

Lowndes, Tander and Bright spanned five-litre touring cars/V8 Supercars, Project Blueprint and Car of the Future.

One driver that just misses out on the list is Jim Richards.

The four-time Australian Touring Car Champion had pole in both the Group C and A eras, however, was unable to snag a pole position in 1993 or 1994 during the early five-litre V8 era aboard one of Gibson Motorsport’s Winfield Commodores.

He was tripped up by the Peter Jackson Dash on each of the five occasions in those two years that it determined the grid in those years.

Richards qualified fastest at Wanneroo in 1993, however drew fifth for the Dash and finished fifth in the three-lap dash.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint on March 30-April 2.