WINTERBOTTOM CHARGES FORWARDS AT ALBERT PARK ON DAY ONE

MEDIA RELEASE/Team 18 – Photos: Velocity Magazine

DEWALT Racing’s Mark Winterbottom charged nine places from 20th to 11th in 18 laps during Race 3 of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship at Albert Park, with TRADIE Beer Racing’s David Reynolds placing 16th from 21st.

Thursday’s track action was packed with two practice sessions, two back-to-back 15-minute qualifying sessions, and Race 3 in the evening. Despite facing initial challenges during the first qualifying session, both Winterbottom and Reynolds persisted, with Winterbottom securing an impressive fourth place for Race 4, and Reynolds improving to 16th.

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Winterbottom emerged as one of the quickest contenders on the track in Race 3, working his way forwards from 20th to threaten the top ten in the closing stages of the race. 

Reynolds also showed strong pace throughout the race, showcasing the potential for further gains in upcoming races. Despite encountering challenges with the car’s setup earlier in the day, Reynolds remained upbeat and focused on moving forwards for the rest of the weekend.

Team 18 are back in action on Friday for Race 4 at 2:55pm AEDT. 

Mark Winterbottom, #18 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 14th
Practice 2: 10th 
Qualifying (Race 3): 20th
Qualifying (Race 4): 4th
Race 3: 11th

“It was a pretty good day, really. We rolled out in practice really strong and then didn’t get it right for the first quali and then the next one we qualified 4th, so a mixed qualifying effort.

“We put ourselves 20th, which always is hard with no pit stops and all that sort of stuff, the only way you can get people is to pass cars, so we got nine cars and had really good pace and drove through the field a fair bit. 

“It was good to pass so many cars but it’d be nice to not have to pass anyone and lead from the front, so we’re only passing them because we put ourselves out of position.

“I feel we made the most of a bad situation. It was a good hit out to see what sort of car we have, and I think it’s decent. We can still tune it up, but we have to be careful because when you go chasing something you can lose strength in other areas and not go any faster. We’ll have a look at data and tweak it without reinventing it and have another crack tomorrow.”

David Reynolds, #20 TRADIE Beer Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: 19th
Practice 2: 8th
Qualifying (Race 3): 21st
Qualifying (Race 4): 16th
Race 3: 16th

“Today is one of the longest days of the Supercar Calendars. We started off right at 8:30 did a couple of rides, and then had practice 1 at 10:30, practice 2 at 12, back-to-back qualifying at 3:30 and then a race at 5:30. We had a lot of sessions today, all the boys are knackered.

“We started out a little bit out of the window. We dade a lot of changes for practice 2 and still wasn’t perfect and then we made a small change for the last run of practice 2 and it sort of made it a lot better. In qualifying, we went too much in that direction that we found at the end of practice and didn’t really get any gains.

“I probably made it worse. The car’s in a really funny window at the minute.Mark went really well at the last qualifying session and we plugged in his car and it was much better for the race. 

“I wish we had the race car that we ended with at the start of the day as our progression would have been a lot better. But all in all, we have straight cars and nothing went horribly wrong.”

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