Team 18 fourth in teams points after Bathurst 500

---

TRADIE Beer Racing’s David Reynolds and DEWALT Racing’s Mark Winterbottom placed sixth and 14th respectively in Race 2 of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship at the Repco Bathurst 500.

Qualifying saw drama early on as the team discovered an engine issue on the TRADIE Beer Camaro, which took most of the session to diagnose, leading the team to replace a plug lead and send Reynolds out for one flying lap to qualify fifth. Meanwhile, Winterbottom struggled for balance in Qualifying and started 21st.

The DEWALT Camaro was a far better performer in race trim, as Winterbottom worked his way forward through strong race pace and strategy to pass seven cars to finish 14th.

Reynolds had a clean race, with some sensational battles throughout the race and brought the TRADIE Beer Camaro home in sixth and finishing the first round of the year fifth in the Championship.

Team 18 are fourth in the Teams Championship heading into the second round of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship, supporting the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 21-24 March.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, #100 DEWALT Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying: 21st

Race 2: 14th

“We’ve finished a very interesting weekend at Bathurst. We obviously had a big rebuild here at Team 18, and for me, a new engineer, new philosophy, new setups, a bit of weather on Friday and stuff like that which put us behind the eight ball a bit.

“In that race, the car was really fast, so I now feel confident that I can take that car into qualifying and get up the front which was a good feeling because the race pace is strong.

“Our quali speed was weak, but the way the car was in the race really makes sense to me, so we finished on a high. Our position wasn’t great, but we passed seven cars in both races and were one of the fastest cars on track.

“All in all it was a good weekend. We’ve just got to get qualifying better. If I can get my car to qualify it’s gonna be game on in the race. So all positive, straight cars, lots of knowledge and and quite a few points in the bank.”

David Reynolds, #20 TRADIE Beer Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying: 5th

Shootout: 5th

Race 2: 6th

“That was my first ever race weekend with Team 18, and I drove my little tradie car behind me and I had an absolute wonderful weekend. Everyone’s so much fun, so cool, had the best time ever, laughed, made our car better, and loved it.

“We started qualifying this morning, drove out of pit lane, and it sounded like a tractor. I was like, what is going on here? Like it just was making no power, sounded terrible, running rough as guts and we’d come into pit lane, and they checked over it, couldn’t find anything, sent me back out and had the same problem again. I came back in, they checked over it. They found a bad plug lead, replaced it and I went back out and it sounded fine again.

“The problem was, I had one lap to do my qualifying effort. Carrying more fuel, not understanding the track, had one lap to get it done and put it in fifth for the shootout, which was a huge effort from everyone. I just threw everything I could at it, and it came up good. We made some improvements to the car overnight and in the shootout I did an okay lap, the track terrain changed a lot, it was like 25 degrees hotter so it was really hard to drive and understand and we ended up with.

“I started fifth in the race. I got an okay start, had a bit of a few battles with someone, ran off a bit, lost a spot and ended up sixth overall.

“All in all it’s a really good start to the season. I think we finished fourth in the team’s championship. It’s a really good result for everyone and it’s just a fantastic way to start the year.”

Adrian Burgess, Team Principal – Team 18

“First weekend back in team land and I absolutely loved it. Massive thanks to the team, they’re a ripper bunch, good group of guys. We’ve got a couple who are green, a couple that we’re bringing on. But I think this weekend for me was, solid but not spectacular. We had glimpses of real good car speed, but we probably had a few too many mistakes.

“I’ve enjoyed being back here. It’s nice being in team land, nice being competitive again, going racing, getting angry, clapping, shouting at the TV, all those things.

“I think the encouraging thing is cars are reliable. The Drivers got out of the cars energised and loving the fact now that the changes we make, they can feel it and it lines up with what we’ve seen in the data. We’re making some progress in understanding the car and fundamentally for me, that’s I think the biggest thing we’ve got to improve and I think the signs are there that we are.

“Dave drove the wheels off the thing. We let him down in a couple of places. We didn’t get the shootout lap in yesterday that we should have done and then we had a misfire throughout the start of qualifying and he got in to have one lap, nailed it, put himself fifth in the shootout, so a lot of good, positive signs as a team.

“We’ve moved from eighth up to fourth in the team’s championship as our first weekend out. It’s not always going to be easy. We’ll have bad weekends, but I think the signs are definitely there, which are really encouraging.

“We’re going to get Frosty qualifying well next weekend up where Davey is and then we’re going to start the motor on.”