Reynolds hails rebuild after 38g shunt

David Reynolds has praised his Penrite Racing crew for a mammoth overnight rebuild after his 38g Sydney crash.

Reynolds’ run of poor luck continued at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight after he suffered a front suspension failure at nearly 200km/h.

The #26 Penrite Ford had just stopped midway through Race 18 last Saturday night when he fired off the track and into the wall.

The impact with the wall was measured at 38g, with the incident eluding TV cameras.

Reynolds emerged from the accident unhurt, but his Mustang Supercar wasn’t so lucky, with the #26 crew forced into a long rebuilt effort.

Penrite Racing staff worked on the car until 5:00am on Sunday morning, notably replacing the rear clip, and delivered a car good enough for Reynolds to qualify eighth for Race 19.

“It was a world-class performance by our people,” Reynolds said on Supercars Trackside.

Judicial onboard of Reynolds' crash

“I left here at 12:30am and they were still going hard at everything, they finished up at five in the morning, they basically had no sleep.

“To put on a performance like that and give me a car that was bang on… I out-qualified my position form yesterday.

“My car was pretty much perfect. I went around this morning and hugged them all. I felt terrible that they had to go that, but that’s part of the job.

“There was a little bolt on the upright in position, and over time it stretched through contact, and it just fell out.

“There was nothing I could do.”

The poor luck returned on Sunday, however, with Reynolds caught up in a first lap, first corner bingle that saw Will Brown sent into a high-speed spin.

Reynolds, who scored two podiums in the first seven races of the season, is now 16th overall after failing to score a top 10 finish in the last four rounds.

The Ford team is wedged in a run of poor form in races despite managing solid one-lap pace, with Reynolds qualifying on the front row in Townsville.

“It was unfortunately a big accident in the end,” Penrite Racing Team Principal David Cauchi said on the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

“The guys and girls were here until 5:00am, it was pretty difficult but we repaired it properly.

“We didn’t want to leave any stone unturned, but David qualified well but it came unstuck at Turn 1, which was really disappointing.

“We’ve struggled a bit lately in terms of race results, we’ve had qualifying speed there, but the racing hasn’t been able to deliver us the results that we want.

“That’s part of our journey at the moment.”

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the OTR SuperSprint on August 18-20.