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David Reynolds has pinpointed a power steering failure in Race 22 as a possible cause for his recent front tyre wear woes in Townsville.
The Penrite Racing driver failed to finish the opening race of the Robson Civil Projects Townsville SuperSprint, retiring on Lap 16.
At last weekend’s first NTI Townsville SuperSprint, the 35-year-old struggled to find a set-up window that worked for his Holden ZB Commodore but recorded finishes of fifth, 10th, and 11th.
The Reid Park Street Circuit is typically worse for rear tyre wear than front tyre wear, leaving the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner perplexed after the first weekend.
With his power steering failure in Race 22, Reynolds said he hoped it would be the first step towards resolving his tyre wear struggles.
The team even sought to overcome the issues by adopting the set-up of the sister #99 Holden ZB Commodore driven by Anton De Pasquale.
“We tried to fix our problem from last round which was using the front tyres too much and tried a range of different things before qualifying,” said Reynolds
“Obviously, that meant we didn’t get to hone in our best qualifying set up but it was good to still end up tenth.
“We put Anton’s set up in for the race though that requires a different driving style, so it’s something that takes me a little while to get the most out of.
“The power steering failing didn’t help that but hopefully that’s been my problem for the last couple rounds and it’s just taken a while to fail.
“We’ll know (on Sunday) morning what role that may have played.
“It’s been a trying day for our side of the garage and we still have a lot of work to do, though car 99 is still going well so that’s a positive for our team.
“I know I can do really well here and be on the pace, we just need to fine-tune the car and hope for a better day (on Sunday).”
Erebus Motorsport team-mate Anton De Pasquale finished fifth in the #99 entry.
The 24-year-old lamented a slow getaway, which cost him positions at the start of the race.
However, as Reynolds retired and Shane van Gisbergen followed suit with an issue of his own, De Pasquale eventually came back to fifth place.
“I had a terrible start in the race with heaps of wheel spin, though other than that our car was quite good,” said De Pasquale.
“We went back to ninth at the start and recovered to fifth. Heading into tomorrow we need to qualify well again and work out how to get the starts better.
“Our qualifying car definitely had more pace this weekend and my race car is still good. We’ll fine tune them both a bit overnight and push for another good result (on Sunday).”
Reynolds leads the way for Erebus Motorsport in the drivers’ championship in ninth while De Pasquale sits 11th.
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship field is back on track from 09:40 local time/AEST for a pair of 10-minute qualifying sessions ahead of Race 23 and Race 24.
