Why David Reynolds won the 2017 Bathurst 1000 with Erebus

David Reynolds is an Australian Supercars driver who won the 2017 Bathurst 1000 with Luke Youlden for Erebus Motorsport. He built his reputation through a Carrera Cup title, a long run of top-ten Supercars finishes and a second place at Bathurst in 2012, 0.786 seconds behind the winner, which was the closest winning margin on record at the time. He has driven for several teams and is currently with Team 18.

How did Reynolds build his early career?

His first national series campaign was the 2003 Australian Formula Ford Championship, which he ended out of the top ten. In 2004 he joined Sonic Motor Racing Services, a team that would give him four years of racing and two national titles. That first year brought the Australian Formula Ford Championship, and it was the start of a move away from open-wheelers.

Sonic then expanded into Carrera Cup Australia, and Reynolds finished fifth in his first season. When the series moved from the Porsche 996 to the 997 in 2006, he finished third. After a season-long battle with Alex Davison and Craig Baird, he claimed the 2007 title.

A Carrera Cup champion who learned to win at Bathurst the hard way, then took the 2017 race with a team he had helped build.

What did the endurance and early Supercars years look like?

Reynolds began his Supercars career in 2007 as an endurance co-driver. He was not keen to affect the title chances of regular drivers Rick Kelly and Garth Tander, so he became a co-driver alongside Cameron McConville for Paul Weel Racing rather than race one of the HSV Dealer Team Holdens. That pairing failed to finish the Sandown 500, and at Bathurst the engine failed on the warm-up lap.

In 2008 he joined Tony D'Alberto Racing for the Fujitsu series and finished fourth in the standings, paired with Paul Dumbrell in the endurance events. At Bathurst that year he gave up his seat in Dumbrell's car to Rick Kelly, whose own car could not be repaired after a practice crash.

In 2009 he drove for Walkinshaw Racing in the number 24 Bundaberg Red Holden, partnering Dumbrell in the Autobarn car as part of a four-car squad. He showed promise but was caught by bad luck. At Barbagallo he ran in the top three for most of the race, before a delaminated front tyre sent him into the sand trap and he finished 22nd. He ended the year 22nd in the championship.

Kelly Racing gave him a 2011 seat in the number 16 Stratco Commodore, alongside Greg Murphy. Despite racing the oldest car in the field, he finished 19th in the championship, with a couple of top-five finishes and several shootout appearances, including at Bathurst. Tension with the team grew midway through the year, and after the Phillip Island round his engineer James Small was let go. Reynolds was released from his two-year deal after one season.

What did the Rod Nash Racing years deliver?

Reynolds moved to Rod Nash Racing for 2012, driving the number 55 Bottle-O Ford Falcon prepared by Ford Performance Racing. He qualified on the front row at Townsville and claimed his first pole there, while at the 2012 Bathurst 1000 he battled Jamie Whincup in the closing stages. He finished second, 0.786 seconds behind, the shortest winning margin on record at the time.

The 2013 season produced his first V8 Supercars win at the Gold Coast 600, after a first shootout pole in the same weekend. Reynolds inherited the lead when the leader's car suffered a front suspension failure, and he held on to the flag. On the podium he threw pot plants to his team and hit the Armor-All Man with a foam hammer.

Late in 2013 the luck swung both ways. At Phillip Island Alex Premat hit him at turn four, but only spun him, while James Courtney, one place behind, took the full impact and could not race for the rest of the season. At Sydney his car was lifted onto two wheels in a bottleneck, yet it suffered no lasting damage, and he came home fourth in the final race.

His form grew steadily. At Hidden Valley in 2013 he scored two poles and finished on the podium in the final race, and at Bathurst that year a late fuel problem cost him a likely top-five finish. He finished the 2013 championship ninth, and in 2014 he finished fifteenth after a difficult season of retirements and crashes.

The 2014 Bathurst weekend went badly. Reynolds crashed in qualifying at the top of the mountain after going slightly wide, and a team-mate's exclusion meant he started 24th. He was running second when an alternator failure ended the race on lap 118. At Surfers Paradise a suspension failure after a tyre bundle sent him into a concrete wall, though the car was repaired in time for the next race.

How did the 2015 season change his career?

In 2015 Reynolds drove the new FGX Falcon for Rod Nash Racing, and his results improved immediately after the team took delivery of it in Tasmania. He qualified in the top five for all three races there and finished the two Saturday races sixth and fourth.

At Hidden Valley he took pole, then a win after capitalising on an early error from Fabian Coulthard. It was his second career win and his first solo victory in the series. On the podium he celebrated by drinking champagne from his race boot, a move later made famous by Daniel Ricciardo.

Phillip Island was the one bad result of the season, when Shane van Gisbergen spun him at the Hayshed turn, leaving him 25th. Townsville brought dual podiums in the same season.

He continued the strong results for the rest of the season, with a Bathurst pole, a podium at the Gold Coast, another at Pukekohe and a race win there. He finished the year third in the championship, the best result of his Supercars career, despite not being retained by Prodrive Racing Australia.

Why did the Erebus years matter?

Reynolds joined Erebus Motorsport in 2016, and the team had a difficult first season after rebuilding from Queensland to Melbourne. The team's dated Walkinshaw-built Commodores were not yet up to the technical specification of the front-runners. He finished 16th in the championship that year, with a Sydney podium that was the team's first of the season.

Form picked up in the second half of 2016. He recorded the fastest race lap at Bathurst and made the shootouts in Townsville, the Gold Coast and Sydney. In the endurance events he was partnered with Craig Baird, though that pairing did not garner notable results.

The 2017 season was the one that changed the story. Erebus built a new car to Reynolds' specifications, kept the Walkinshaw engine package, and the results came. He finished seventh in the championship, with a Phillip Island podium and consistent top-ten runs in most sessions.

How did the 2017 Bathurst 1000 unfold?

Reynolds qualified second for the shootout, and he shared the car with Luke Youlden. Late safety cars, a light sprinkling of rain on the pit straight and fuel strategy shaped the final part of the race. Reynolds passed Nick Percat for second and then used superior speed to guide the number 9 Erebus Penrite Commodore to the win on a drying track.

It was the maiden Bathurst win for Reynolds, Youlden and Erebus, and the first by an independent Australian team since 2000. The victory was a result of careful driving in treacherous conditions and of a team that had invested in its own engineering.

How did the 2018 and 2019 seasons go?

In 2018 the team welcomed the new ZB Commodore, and the car was competitive from the first rounds. Reynolds reached the podium at Adelaide, Phillip Island, Barbagallo and Hidden Valley, and his race wins came at Albert Park and again at Hidden Valley. He finished fifth in the championship, and the car stayed in the top five from late in the season.

At Bathurst that year Reynolds led a dominant pace but was overtaken by Lowndes and Steven Richards after fatigue set in during the final stages. The team's Penrite car finished 13th, though it had recorded the fastest race lap of the event for the third year in a row.

The 2019 season started with third in Tasmania and a run of top-ten results. Craig Lowndes touted him as a potential champion, but the championship was dominated by Scott McLaughlin. Reynolds' Erebus cars were nonetheless strong, and two Hidden Valley podiums kept him among the top three in the standings for much of the year.

Winton was a highlight, where the Erebus Commodores consistently fought with and beat the factory-backed Triple Eight team, and Reynolds and teammate Anton De Pasquale were often the best placed Holdens in qualifying and races.

What happened in 2020 and 2021?

Reynolds began 2020 strongly at the Adelaide 500, topping first practice and qualifying second despite front suspension damage, then finishing fourth. The pandemic reshaped the season, and he took fourth places at the Sydney SuperNight and at Sydney Motorsport Park. A controversial first-corner clash with championship leader Scott McLaughlin at Townsville drew attention, and Bathurst ended in 15th with Will Brown.

He finished the 2020 season 12th in the championship on 1492 points. In December 2020 it was confirmed that he would leave Erebus for Kelly Racing in 2021, with Penrite backing as the team switched from Nissan Altimas to the Ford Mustang. At Kelly Racing he was sidelined for two rounds in 2021 after an exemption under NSW Health vaccination rules was overturned.

Where did the later career go?

Reynolds returned to Kelly Racing, which Grove Racing then part-owned, and Grove completed a takeover of the team before 2022. He stayed through 2023. In 2024 he was announced as replacing Scott Pye at Team 18, the team he drives for now, in the number 20 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

How did Reynolds handle his off-track profile?

Reynolds was fined AU$25,000 in 2015 after comments about an all-female one-off entry at Bathurst. Outside the car he has been involved in business and road safety. With Will Brown he created the Cartopia platform in 2021, an online vehicle search and purchasing service aimed at dealers and buyers.

He is also behind the Curb the Rage initiative, which works with corporate partners and industry figures to raise awareness of road rage and the social issues around it.

Career results by series