Behind the façade of Supercars funny man David Reynolds is a competitive edge that is spurring him on ahead of this weekend's round at Queensland Raceway.
DJR Team Penske and Red Bull Holden Racing have dominated the Supercars championship so far but Reynolds and the Erebus Racing Holden has beenable to match those big guns in the odd session - now the 32-year-old is hoping to find the consistency to take it to them across a whole round.
At the last event in Townsville Reynolds qualified third for the Sunday race - only narrowly missing championship leader Scott McLaughlin and defending champ Shane van Gisbergen while beating championship contenders Jamie Whincup and Fabian Coulthard.
It is that sort of genuine speed that is encouraging the much smaller Erebus operation. The challenge though is to keep up the performance - his race pace in Townsville was disappointing.
"At the start of the year we were racing really well but we couldn't qualify but now it has gone the other way," Reynolds told Radio Sport. "We can qualify it and get the speed out of the car but now we can't race it as well.
"We're recently looked at the data to try and understand why that is. That is the big fundamental thing in our series is understanding why and what happened.
"We just have to back-track on what we've done for qualifying in the race.
"It sounds kind of simple but it's not. There is a lot of stuff that goes into these cars - you adjust a millimeter here or five pound of spring there and it makes a really big difference in our cars.
Reynolds is 10th in the championship standings and has his eyes on moving up between now and the end of the year.
"I think I can get to seventh," he said. "I was eighth at one point and my last round put my 10th because I had two shocking races.
"If I finish in the top seven I would be absolutely ecstatic."
Queensland Raceway Facts * It is 3.12km long and shaped like a paperclip, which gives the track its nickname * Track opened in 1999 * Track has held 21 events (there were two years with multiple rounds) with Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander competing every time * Lowndes is the most successful driver with 12 wins and he's finished on the podium in 15 of the last 19 races
Predictions Man to beat: Impossible to go past championship leader Scott McLaughlin's red-hot form Dark horse: Craig Lowndes' record speaks for itself but he needs to qualify in a decent spot Pressure on: Kiwis Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen can't afford another bad result Keep an eye on: The battle between DJR Team Penske and Red Bull Holden Racing, who both test at this track
