Reynolds surprised by Sydney podium

Reynolds, who joined the unfancied team from powerhouse squad Prodrive at the beginning of the season, drove an impressive race to hold off Jamie Whincup and finish third on Sunday afternoon.

When asked whether he was surprised to show front-running form, Reynolds admitted that he was – but not because of the team he races, rather then litany of problems he had to endure across the 74 laps.

“I actually am [surprised], I had a horrible race to be fair,” he said. “Everything went wrong, but I still managed to get third.

“I can’t remember what lap it was, but Shae Davies my teammate stuffed up into the first corner, and he rejoined and I nearly drilled him. I thought, ‘what was he doing?’

“And then Whincup got a run on me and [James] Courtney was behind, so I had to defend and I was under pressure from there on in. My comms fell out of my helmet about five times during the race, I had to put it down the main straight. I ran out of water and boiled myself dry, that’s why they gave me a drink during the last pitstop.

“So yeah, I am surprised to be here.”

In the end, though, Reynolds says the difference was wanting that final podium spot more than Whincup, who put the Erebus Commodore under immense pressure in the closing stages.

“That was a really, really hard battle,” said Reynolds.

“Lucky I had no mirrors, I smashed them all in the Shootout and I had none left. Apparently he tried to pass, but I couldn’t see him so I just turned in and he made a little contact.

“He was probably faster than me, but I really wanted this podium, probably more than he did.”

According to Reynolds, the minnow squad’s biggest challenge for next season will be dealing with a change in the Dunlop control tyres.

“We’ll see how it goes,” he said when asked if the third place was a sign of things to come in 2017.

“[It is a] different tyre next year, so that will play into the bigger teams because they have a bit bigger engineering force than we do. But there’s not reason that if we don’t do things methodically and play it smart, we can’t be at the front.”

He downplayed the significance of not having a front-running teammate, however, claiming that driving alongside rookies like Aaren Russell and Davies hasn’t affected his own progress.

“I’ve had three or four different teammates this year and the’ve all been rookies,” he said. “How my teammate performs doesn’t affect my performance at all. I go out and try 100, 110 per cent.

“Last year [at Prodrive] was a bit different, we had three really competitive drivers always pushing each other. But I don’t think it changes my performance whatsoever. I go out and try hard.”