Reynolds struggled on the streets of Townsville, with a general lack of pace yielding two race results well outside the top 10.

Sunday was particularly difficult thanks to a lap 1 clash with Will Brown, Reynolds only able to recover to 22nd across the 250-kilometre race.

It wasn’t just speed that Reynolds was battling either, the Bathurst winner telling Speedcafe that he was also dealing with illness, as well as a foot pain issue relating to the throttle pedal.

“I haven’t told anyone, but I haven’t been feeling the best,” he told Speedcafe.

“I’ve been trying to just deal with it myself. Sunday was the better day of the weekend, but my foot’s been in a lot of pain after Saturday. Thirty laps in I was in a world of shit.

“I think it’s heat, pressure pain, everything. We need to look at how we can fix that. Normally it’s not an issue, but [on Saturday and Sunday] it was.”

As for the clash with good friend Brown, Reynolds said there was little he could do to avoid the Red Bull Camaro.

“I got a reasonable start and I was around the outside at turn 2 and going down to turn 3,” he explained.

“Everyone started coming across, and I saw Will start coming across and he wouldn’t have seen me. By the time got out of it, it was too late and he spun in front of me.

“It’s all about qualifying, that sets up your race. You can come back from a bad qualifying, but man, it’s so hard. You have to deal with all of the shit at the start.

“Some days you’re the shit, sometimes you’re the sandwich, either way it’s a shit sandwich.”

Mark Winterbottom showed some signs of speed in the sister Team 18 entry, going third quickest in Friday practice and finishing eighth in Sunday’s race.

According to Reynolds, focussing on Winterbottom’s set-up despite the veteran not being overly happy with the car contributed to the tough weekend.

“Even on Friday, Frosty said, ‘my car’s not that good’,” said Reynolds.

“Maybe we should have taken his word for it, but he was third fastest at the time and you’ve got to go on what you know.

“It wasn’t the best weekend in any respect. Our stops were good, everyone worked really hard, and you get no reward. This game can be so disheartening.”