After a remarkable overnight effort, Holden star David Reynolds is back on the road to redemption with a rebuilt Commodore at the Bathurst 1000 on Friday.
Reynolds’ hopes of bouncing back from a disastrous 2018 Bathurst campaign appeared over after co-driver Luke Youlden hit the wall at practice on Thursday.
His Penrite Racing team admitted they would be lucky to get the Commodore back in shape for qualifying late on Friday afternoon.
However, after the Penrite garage worked around the clock Youlden was back on track for Friday’s opening one hour practice which was restricted to co-drivers.
Youlden overcame his mental demons to finish 12th fastest in the session in which Holden young gun Anton De Pasquale’s co-driver William Brown emerged the quickest.
The dramatic re-build ensures Reynolds will get valuable time behind the wheel in Friday’s second practice before qualifying starts at 1600 AEDT.
It is a shot in the arm for 2017 Bathurst champion Reynolds who is out for redemption at Mount Panorama after his bid for back-to-back wins was sabotaged last year by severe cramp.
“Yesterday they were talking about not even making this session,” Reynolds said.
“But the boys have done an unbelievable job just to make everything perfect.
“They put a lot of time and effort and love and care into it.”
Youlden was simply glad to have emerged from the practice session unscathed after Thursday’s bingle which had left him rattled.
“I did battle mentally a bit (before returning to track),” Youlden said.
“I just wanted to make sure it came back (to the garage).
“I can’t apologise enough for yesterday.”
Asked how the Penrite team pulled off their dramatic re-build, team official Barry Ryan said: “They worked their arses off.”
While Youlden made an impressive comeback, another Thursday casualty was not so lucky.
Cousins Jake and Brodie Kostecki, missed Thursday’s final practice after hitting the wall at Reid Park in the second session, ensuring the wildcard entries missed Thursday’s final practice along with Penrite Racing.
They also pulled off an impressive overnight re-build to hit Friday’s opening practice, only for disaster to strike again.
The red flag came out just moments after Friday’s session opened when Jake Kostecki hit the wall at Griffin’s Bend.