FRIDAY RESULTS

Cub Cadet Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and TRADIE Beer Racing’s David Reynolds showed promising pace as they kicked off the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 weekend, completing two solid practice sessions.

Winterbottom was a consistent presence in the top ten during Practice 1, ultimately securing 13th. In Practice 2, he again showcased strong pace, though traffic on his green tyre run pushed him back to 15th.

Saturday’s action-packed schedule includes Qualifying at 11:05am, followed by the Top Ten Shootout at 12:35pm, and Race 21 kicking off at 3:15pm AEST.

Fans can catch all the excitement live on Channel 7, Fox Sports, and Kayo. Check local guides for full details.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 Cub Cadet Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Practice 1: P13

Practice 2: P15

“I just had a bit of traffic in that one. I was probably seventh, eighth on pace, which we’re probably sitting more around the 10.7 lap time, but yeah, got traffic on the green tyre run. “Not fast enough, but at the back end of the ten. I’m just looking for front grip to try and sharpen the car up. “Seventh, eighth and ninth was realistically where we sat, but there's some fast cars, so quite a bit to do overnight.

SATURDAY RESULTS

TRADIE Beer Racing’s David Reynolds clinched a strong sixth-place finish in the first race of the Gold Coast 500, marking his best result since Darwin and an impressive debut for the new T18-003 chassis.

Meanwhile, Cub Cadet Racing’s Mark Winterbottom battled through challenging traffic to improve to 13th in a race defined by the narrow constraints of the Gold Coast’s tight street circuit.

Winterbottom noted the difficulties in overtaking but remained hopeful for Sunday’s final, emphasising the importance of securing a better qualifying position to capitalise on track position.

Sunday’s schedule includes Qualifying at 10:10am, followed by the Top Ten Shootout at 11:35am, and Race 22 kicking off at 2:15pm AEST.

Fans can catch all the excitement live on Channel 7, Fox Sports, and Kayo. Check local guides for full details.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 Cub Cadet Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying: P15
Race 21: P13

“Not much passing out there and that car was reasonably pacey, but every strategy I just kept coming out behind Percat's car. I was in front of him, they undercut us and then undercut us again.

“It was a bit follow-the-leader, If I had got past him, I could have trucked on and probably ran with the next group.

“Glad the race was over. I was getting sick of looking at the back of the same car to be honest. We’ll work out why and then make the car a little bit better, but it’s tough to pass, track position's key, so we’ll qualify well tomorrow and see where we end up.”

SUNDAY RESULTS

TRADIE Beer Racing’s David Reynolds secured a top-ten finish, coming home in tenth place in Race 22 of the Gold Coast 500, while Cub Cadet Racing’s Mark Winterbottom battled to 12th after an eventful race.

Both drivers miraculously avoided significant damage in a chaotic multi-car incident at Turn 11 on lap one, ultimately allowing the team to finish the weekend on a high note.

The day began with both Team 18 drivers showing competitive pace during Qualifying, with Reynolds on track to challenge the top of the grid until a red flag interrupted his fastest lap.

A switch to fresh tyres altered the balance of both cars, resulting in Reynolds qualifying 14th and Winterbottom 16th for the start of Race 22.

The opening lap saw both drivers skilfully emerged unscathed through a multi-car pileup at Turn 11, where Reynolds received a bump from behind and briefly made contact with Courtney, while Winterbottom had a close call, narrowly avoiding major damage after contact with Percat. Despite minor cosmetic damage, both cars continued the race.

Reynolds executed a consistent run, capitalising on strategic pit stops to move up to 10th by the checkered flag.

Winterbottom’s strong pace and pit strategy had him hold out for a Full Course Yellow that could have elevated his position. Unfortunately, a mishap during a pit stop resulted in a 12th-place finish.

Reflecting on the weekend, Reynolds expressed confidence in the car’s race pace and strategy, looking ahead to the season finale in Adelaide with optimism.

Winterbottom acknowledged the difficulties in the pit lane but was pleased with the car’s pace.

Team Principal Adrian Burgess praised the team’s hard work in bringing a new car up to speed since Bathurst, emphasising the team’s commitment to improving for the final round.

Team 18 heads to the final round of the 2024 Supercars Championship at the VAILO Adelaide 500 on November 14-17.

RESULTS & QUOTES

Mark Winterbottom, driver #18 Cub Cadet Racing Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Qualifying: P16
Race 22: P12

“Finished up on the Gold Coast. A tough weekend again. Our car was really quick in that race, good tyre life.

“We had a cross threaded wheel nut. The car got dropped without a wheel on it, the car went back up, the spare wasn't ready, the gift that kept giving. Probably should have finished seventh or eighth, just behind Andre there.

“We got the car fast, but things didn't go our way. Thank you to all the people who wore my gear and shared their photos on my socials. The support's been awesome.”

Adrian Burgess, Team Principal - Team 18

“Big week. big turnaround from Bathurst. So first of all, I need to thank the whole team, all the guys, all the girls for building us a brand new car. She rolled out here after a quick shakedown really well, actually, and Dave was really happy with it.

“We had some good pace obviously yesterday, managed to get Dave in the shootout, which was good considering the last couple of events.

“We had a good race yesterday, finished sixth with Davey, which was probably our highlight. We carried some confidence coming into today and again, just like Tasmania. Dave was really on fire, we were running fourth and on a good lap that would have probably put us second and easily got us into the ten, but then we had the red flag so we didn't finish that lap.

The next set of tires just wasn't a balance for either of the drivers. So we dropped back to 14th and 16th. So we had a bit of work to do, but encouraged we had pace.

“In the race, we decided to get Davey out of the traffic, get a good first lap, managed to avoid the accidents going on, put him on an alternative strategy, got him up to 10th. We probably should have been 8th or 9th, but there's a few things going on in pit lane with with refuelling, but we've got a bit of work to do with our refuelling process.

"Frosty was trucking along again on a different strategy, trying to mix the cars up. He was going really long which was starting to pay for him and then bungled a pit stop. Frosty unfortunately went a bit long, that just knocked the wheel out the way and a whole chain of events which was very disappointing to see that happen, but we work as a team, we win as a team, we lose as a team we'll go back and regroup.

“Looking forward to Adelaide, we've gone well there in the past. We need to send Frosty off with the best possible result. He's been a great ambassador for the team over a long period of time so we want to go there and all of us have a great weekend together and send him off in style.”