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For today at least, David Reynolds will be known as the fastest ever V8 Supercar driver around Mount Panorama.
The Ford driver, from Bottle O Racing, took the honours with a blistering lap in the final session of the day.
With his final lap of Practice 3, Reynolds did a time of 2:06.3714, to take out the session and have the fastest lap of the day.
It bettered the 2010 record set by Craig Lowndes when he did a 2:06.8012 in Practice 5.
Amazingly, Reynolds wasn’t the only driver to better the mark, with Mark Winterbottom and Fabian Coulthard also under the old mark set by Lowndes in the final session.
Winterbottom – who finished second – did a 2:06.4813 and held the new record for about eight seconds before his teammate took the crown.
Coulthard, who round out the top three did a 2:06.5463 to also better the 2010 mark.
Speaking after the session Reynolds said it was a weird feeling to hold the record.
“It feels pretty good to have the lap record at Bathurst.”
“If it rains for the next couple of days I’ll be happy.”
The rain looks to be the only chance Reynolds has of keeping the record.
Times are expected to drop further tomorrow and Saturday as the teams go for broke in qualifying and the top ten shoot-out. Fabian Coulthard said the teams could go as low as 2 minutes and 5 seconds over the next two days.
“We came here with the anticipation of somewhere in the 5’s.”
“It seemed farfetched but I think the fact that Dave done a 6.3 at the moment, and the track is rubbering up, it’s going to get better.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
While the lap record, and the speed of the track, was one of the talking points of the day; the other was how the new surface created more problems to the drivers with the rear of the car.
Many practices today, in the V8 Supercars and the support categories, were hampered by red flags throughout the sessions.
Some were caused by inexperience at the mountain; others were caused by problems with the rear because of the new surface.
It all started in the first practice session for the day when Dick Johnson Racing brought out the first red flag of the weekend.
Heading out of the Chase, David Wall in his 17 car, lost a rear tyre, and went straight into the wall on the right hand side of the track.
It caused significant damage to the back of the car and it forced the team to miss Practice 2.
He wasn’t the only casualty, with the Team Jeldwen Ford of Cameron Waters also involved in an incident.
The 18 car sustained damage to its back and the team was also eliminated from the second practice session.
Practice one was taken out by Ford Performance Racing’s Chaz Mostert who did a 2:08.0736.
Mostert was just over two seconds quicker than the fastest time in the same practice session last year.
This would set the precedence for the rest of the day.
In the second practice session, which would be run by the co-drivers, the Holden Racing Team’s Greg Murphy was the quickest with a 2:08.5365.
The 22 car, which he shares with James Courtney, would also be two seconds quicker than the same session last year.
The final session provided the most drama with two red flags and a new lap record. Both red flags were at the same spot of the track.
The first one involved the 34 Volvo car of Robert Dahlgren, who hit the wall at the Dipper. A few minutes later, after the practice session resumed, Garth Tander for the Holden Racing Team would hit the wall at the Dipper as well.
Both teams will have a busy night ahead of them as they fix their cars for tomorrow.
Mark Winterbottom, speaking at the press conference after the Thursday sessions, said the red flags were because of problems with the rear of the car.
The new surface was creating problems in the rear. “It is hard work out there.”
“Everyone has got same issues when they are moving around [in the rear].”
“In terms of racing it is going to be good.”
“You will see mistakes, you will see shunts, and you’ll see plenty of action.”
“Sunday is going to be a really good race to watch.”
Before Sunday’s race though there is the qualifying session, with Friday another busy day for the drivers.
There will be two more practice sessions in the morning before qualifying sorts out the field from positions 11-26.
If yesterday’s form is anything to go by, it promises to be action packed and incredibly fast run from the V8 Supercars.
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