Reynolds drove a masterly race on Saturday, passing 10 cars, to finish just off the podium in fourth position.

“I wish I qualified up the front because we probably would have won the race from a country mile,” Reynolds said.

“It was one of those days where everything worked.

“Our car was phenomenal to drive.

“It was an absolute pleasure and great day of racing.

“It was really fun.

“I had the fastest car on the track for a while, and also the best tyre life so it was easy to drive.”

Reynolds set the fastest lap of the race as he cut his way through the field, seemingly passing cars at will.

“There was a bit of pressure there after the pit stop when I had to battle a few people and keep them behind me but our car was that much better it made it look easy,” he said.

“I had no idea how it was going to play out to be honest.

“Out car wasn’t great in qualifying and we changed little bits here and there and little bits in these cars make big differences.

“It was fantastic”

Reynolds backed up with another top 10 result on Sunday, finishing 7^th.

He drove an outstanding race in a car that was not quite set up for the warmer conditions.

“We made a few changes to try and get it to qualify better, but with the sun out today it made it harder to drive in the race,” he said.

“I wish I had my car from yesterday as it was a rocket, but you have to keep trying new things to get to the front.”

Down pit lane at Brad Jones Racing it was an up and down weekend for Nick Percat and Tim Slade in their Freightliner-backed cars.

Both were around the top ten throughout the weekend but couldn’t find that little bit extra to push them to the front.

On Saturday, a pit exit/re-join gone wrong put a harsh end to Slade’s race.

Rick Kelly and Mark Winterbottom were battling for position and he was set to join the order behind them.

Battling hard saw them slow and Slade found himself in the mix at turn one.

With cold tyres and being on the dirty side of the track, he braked to avoid them, but it resulted in a lock up and contact with Kelly spearing them both off the track.

Slade was given a drive through penalty for the incident and ended up finishing 27th.

He recovered well on Sunday to drive a steady race to 11th , one place ahead of teammate Nick Percat, who couldn’t find the speed that saw him finish 10th on Saturday.

Team owner Brad Jones said there was work to do.

“I’m not very happy with how we performed this weekend,” he said.

“We are transitioning to a few new things and it just hasn’t gelled yet.

“We’ve got a fair bit of work to do to get the front.

“There is quite a long break until the next round at Darwin.

“That will suit us just fine at the moment.

“It’s a small margin from 10th to first, but we have to find it and make it stick.”

With the rain clearing from the North-East in Saturday morning, good crowds turned out at Winton over the weekend.