Reynolds shifting focus to Bathurst

Team 18 veteran David Reynolds already has one eye on the Great Race amid a rollercoaster first season in Team 18 colours.

Reynolds has a strong record at Mount Panorama, winning the 2017 edition and finishing runner-up in 2012.

He also claimed a top five finish last year alongside Garth Tander despite being delayed by a drive-through penalty early in the race.

Reynolds kicked off his season with Team 18 in Bathurst, and left the season opener equal fourth in the championship standings with finishes of sixth and eighth. However, it has been a mixed bag since, Reynolds claiming four top 10s in his next 14 starts to drop 788 points off the pace.

Reynolds is confident Bathurst will be his "time to shine,” with the former winner partnering with six-time Bathurst podium-finisher Warren Luff.

"Tasmania is the last round before the enduro season and that's on the forefront of everyone's mind,” Reynolds told Supercars.com.

"How can we win Bathurst? We're not in the championship, so how can we win Bathurst? We're all pointing arrows towards that one big race.

“After [Tasmania] we've got Sandown 500 not as a warm-up, but as a precursor to the big event. And then the Bathurst 1000, that's my time to shine.”

Reynolds is 15th in the points heading to next weekend’s NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint. The eight-time race winner is a big fan of Symmons Plains Raceway, but knows the late winter slot could provide big challenges for drivers and teams.

“[Tasmania] is one of the coolest tracks you can drive on,” Reynolds said.

"It's got one of the slowest corners and one of the fastest corners and makes some of the best racing. You can get good runs on people, you can get drafts and it always makes chaos.

“You’ve gotta race really hard and defend your position, otherwise there could be a train of five cars behind you, you could get hung out to dry and be five spots behind in one lap.

“It’s gonna be super cold this year, we've never gone at this time of year, so to get your tyres up to temperature and in the operating window, that's gonna be the challenge for us."