David Reynolds is expecting the patchwork track surface at the Taupō Suepr400 to challenge Supercars drivers on the sport’s return to New Zealand this weekend.
Taupō International Motorsport Park will welcome the category back across the Tasman for the first time in two years following the closure of Pukekohe Park Raceway.
The 3.321-kilometre circuit has been progressively redesigned and modified over the last 20 years, including major modernisation works in 2006 followed by further tweaks after the circuit was bought by Tony Quinn during the pandemic.
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Further changes were required after the opening round of the 2022–23 New Zealand Superbike Championship was called off due to unsafe track conditions.
The changes have left the Taupō track in a patchwork state, with different surfaces blending around the lap.
Reynolds, who starts his 200th Supercars round this weekend, expected the state of the track to challenge drivers on the sport’s first visit to the North Island circuit.
“It was built in the 1950s and I don’t think they’ve resurfaced it once!” Reynolds joked.
“It’s going to be very hard in a Supercar because the surface is quite old. There are a few parts that have been resurfaced, but as a whole it’s quite an old surface.
“It’s a very, very old surface, so the tyre deg is going to be extremely high.”
Teams and drivers will get one 90-minute practice session on Friday to acclimatise to the layout and surface and to understand the soft-compound tyre before qualifying and races on both Saturday and Sunday.
Both days will feature top-10 shootouts, and each race will run to 200 kilometres.
Rain is forecast throughout Friday and for much of Saturday, with partly cloudy conditions expected on Sunday, heightening the challenge of finding a workable car configuration.
“It’s going to be a very hard track to set your car up, one, for qualifying, for doing a fast lap, and then, two, for the longevity of the tyre over the race,” he said. “We’ve got two 200-kilometre races there, and it’s going to be flat out.
“I raced there 15 years ago in Carrera Cup, and I remember it being a very hard track to drive, very hard on tyres and quite mickey mouse.
“There are a lot of corners that lead into other corners, so you’ve actually got to think about what you’re doing out there.”
Reynolds will touch down in New Zealand fifth in the drivers championship, the 200-round veteran sitting on 358 points, 217 points behind title leader Will Brown.
But consistency has been a virtue for the 37-year-old. He’s the highest placed driver on the title table yet to stand on the podium after a strong opening pair of rounds with his new Team 18 squad.
Combined with teammate Mark Winterbottom’s second-place finish on Friday at the Melbourne SuperSprint, the team is an impressive third in the championship standings and just 24 points behind Grove in second.
“I’ve done two rounds with Team 18, and it’s been really, really fun,” he enthused. “We’re third in the teams points, which is unreal, and I’m fifth in the championship, so it’s been a great start.
“Bathurst went really well, we had a lot of pace, and the grand prix went okay — we didn’t have a lot of pace but ended up fifth overall in the standings.
“It shows our consistency is quite good, but we need to work on our car speed depending on what track we go to.”
Reynolds said the field was wide open ahead of Taupō given the sport’s lack of experience at the track.
“Taupō is going to be different again because no-one really knows what to expect or how to set the car up for it,” he said.
“They’ve got no preconceived idea of what’s going to happen, so it’s going to be really interesting to find out what team goes there and performs.”
The spectre of unpredictability has been a boon for ticket sales, with weekend general admission and grandstand tickets long sold out.
It promises an electric atmosphere to match that of the sport’s farewell race at Pukekohe two years ago.
“It’s going to be huge,” Reynolds said. “Anytime you do a race in New Zealand, it’s always really big. New Zealand fans love racing.
“Every time you go to a track there, you’re just welcomed by everyone, and they are very knowledgeable and they know everything about our sport. It’s actually a really cool place to go racing.
“It’s going to be a fun 200th round.”