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With the Repco Supercars Championship on a coronavirus-induced halt at the season’s midway mark, Speedcafe.com takes a look at the 2021 performance of Kelly Grove Racing to date.
Teams’ championship: 8th
Drivers’ championship: Andre Heimgartner 12th, David Reynolds 15th
Qualifying head-to-head: Reynolds 11, Heimgartner 8
Race head-to-head: Heimgartner 10, Reynolds 9
Kelly Grove Racing has been a box of chocolates in 2021… on any given weekend you never know what you’re going to get.
That’s not to say Andre Heimgartner and David Reynolds haven’t had pace, rather, the team has been wildly inconsistent in unlocking that front-running speed.
So much so that Heimgartner went from utterly dominating proceedings in Race 9 at The Bend Motorsport Park to qualifying on the back row alongside his team-mate at Hidden Valley Raceway one round later.
The team hasn’t shied away from the fact that it has been hard to find a set-up window which works for the Ford Mustang pair, sometimes describing the cars as ‘numb’ to change.
Darwin was a particularly hard weekend having been on cloud nine at Tailem Bend, two circuits that both have similar characteristics as far as being low on tyre degradation.
After Tailem Bend, it seemed as though the Braeside-based crew had found what it had spent much of 2020 searching for, only to find themselves back at square one.
Townsville brought some promise for the team, a double-header around Reid Park effectively giving the squad back-to-back tests. Reynolds indeed delivered the first top five at Townsville in Kelly Racing’s 13-year history in a sign of progress.
Heimgartner’s standing in 12th and Reynolds in 15th is by no means representative of their ability, as proven by the win at Tailem Bend and Reynolds’ podium at Sandown.
Kelly Grove Racing has been a bit of a head-scratcher. In the instance of Heimgartner and Reynolds, the pair have done well with what equipment they’ve got.
It’s not been for a lack of trying in the instance of the team, though there is a seemingly tiresome recurring trend of being up-and-down with the feel of the car.
Team mid-season grade: 6/10
Driver mid-season grades: Heimgartner 7/10, Reynolds 6/10