Gritty Reindler toughs it out at Valley
22nd June, 2010
Gritty Reindler toughs it out at Hidden Valley
Karl Reindler has added to his reputation as one of V8 Supercar racing's fittest drivers after tackling the heat of Hidden Valley's Sky City Triple Crown with an ill-timed bout of the flu.
The West Australian was able to set remarkably competitive times for much of Sunday's 200km race, despite temperatures of up to 55 degrees inside his Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing Commodore.
Using his allocated set of softer Sprint tyres during the middle portion of the event, Reindler was able to set one of the fastest laps of the race - his best of 1:10.397 over three tenths faster than the best managed by eventual winner Jamie Whincup.
Despite having moved into the top 15 by mid-race, Reindler's hard work was not to be rewarded. A fumbled final pit stop compounded time lost earlier due to heavy tyre wear, and resulted in a 26th place finish.
"It was good to come up through the field during the middle of the race, but ideally we wanted to run the soft tyre a bit later on. We were forced to just hold on in the first stint as our set of hard tyres were going away quickly in the hope a safety car would bring us back to the field, which didn't eventuate, so we went onto our softs and did the best we could from there.
"I gave everything I had for the whole race, but we lost a fair bit of time when the softs began to lose their grip, and then the pit stop problem sealed our fate. It was a shame that we didn't get more of a result, but our strategy meant we were able to pass a few of the more fancied runners during the race which provided some exposure for Wilson Security and Sky City - who joined the Fair Dinkum Sheds Racing team this weekend."
Reindler's Hidden Valley event started on an unfortunate note on Friday when the 25 year old's first day at the track ended early thanks to an engine problem.
"Missing all of Practice 4 certainly meant we started the weekend behind the eight-ball," said Reindler. "We'd struggled with drive-traction during the earlier sessions, and the engine issue meant we weren't able to go out and verify the changes we wanted to make.
"We went out on Saturday morning for qualifying with a combination of settings from my two team-mates. The Fair Dinkum Sheds crew did a great job to change the motor overnight and have everything running well for the session. Qualifying only seven tenths of a second behind our team mate Jason Richards provisional pole time probably wasn't too bad a result considering the problems we'd had."
Sadly for Reindler, he would spend much of Saturday's race simply gaining experience of the circuit, after an optimistic move on the opening lap from fellow rookie Daniel Gaunt left the #21 Commodore with broken steering.
"It was very unfortunate for us, but we're not the first to be taken out on the opening lap of one of these races, nor will we be the last," said Reindler of the incident. "At least I was able to get back out and do some laps."
The 2010 V8 Supercar Championship Series now heads to Townsville for the Sucrogen Townsville 400 on July 9-11.
Karl Reindler is proudly supported by Brad Jones Racing, Fair Dinkum Homes & Sheds, No Fear, Oakley, Biante, Thomson Aviation and Bostech Drilling.
EVENT SUMMARY
Saturday - Race 13
Qualifying: 27th, 1:10.6732
Race: DNF, 29 laps
Sunday - Race 14
Qualifying: 27th, 1:22.6324
Race: 26th
Championship classification: 28th, 360 points
2010 V8 Supercar Event Calendar
#8 Sucrogen Townsville 400, QLD (9-11 July)
#9 L&H 500, Phillip Island, VIC (10-12 September)
#10 Supercheap Auto 1000, Bathurst, NSW (7-10 October)
#11 Gold Coast Supercarnival, QLD (22-24 October)
#12 Falken Tasmania Challenge, TAS (12-14 November)
#13 Norton 360 Sandown Challenge, VIC (19-21 November)
#14 Telstra 500, Sydney, NSW (3-5 December)
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