Former Bathurst 1000 champion David Reynolds hoping to recapture early season form at Great Race

The 2017 Great Race winner unveiled the livery for his Grove Racing entry at McPhillamy Park on Tuesday afternoon, hoping that they'll be the colours that will see the chequered flag first in this Sunday's edition of the Bathurst 1000.

Reynolds' second season behind the wheel of a Mustang GT has been a more encouraging campaign than last year's Ford debut, where COVID ruled him out of six races and he finished the season in 18^th.

The Grove Racing driver comes to Bathurst sitting seventh in the 2022 Supercars Championship on the back of six podium finishes, although that drought-breaking victory has continued to elude him.

Reynolds vividly remembers his taste of Bathurst 1000 glory and said the drive to replicate that victory grows within him every year.

"It's the best week in motor racing land. It's the best track we go to. It's the mecca. It's the holy grail. It's our grand final and it's such a fun week to be a part of," he said.

"It's kind of like a drug. Once you've won it you want to keep doing it. The first time I won it, with the team we were, everyone said it was a fluke, so the next year I wanted to come back and hose everyone ... but that result [of 13th] was a hard pill to swallow.

"I went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. It's not a good feeling. It's such a long day and such a long week that anything can happen. Even a crash in practice can really stuff up your flow for the weekend.

"You need to respect the Mountain. Even with my experience I've always got to treat those first couple of laps cautiously. It's been a year since we've been here in these cars and the track can change all the time so you've really got to understand what you're driving on."

All six of Reynolds' podium finishes this season came prior to June.

Since then it's been and up and down tussle for Reynolds, who has gone of to claim another nine top 10 finishes but has slipped outside of the top five in the championship.

Reynolds still likes a lot of what he's seen from his car over that time and he's hopeful that the Bathurst track can bring out the best of both himself and his machine.

"Our performance at the start of the year was astronomical," he said.

"Every track you go to presents its own set of problems. We run a different tyre on most tracks. We race on different surfaces, altitudes and other variables.

"We found our window of what we're good at. We like high track grip and cold conditions, that's what the car tends to like. Bathurst is a hybrid track and over the weekend it's looking quite cold, so that's good for us."

Reynolds' co-driver this weekend will be Matt Payne, who currently sits third in the Super2 series and comes to Bathurst on the back of a race victory at Sandown.

"Matty was obviously part of Andre [Heimgartner's] car last year so I got to see him work," Reynolds said.

"He's a highly skilled driver and to share my car with him is awesome. He's also the same size as me so we don't have to muck around with seats. He's awesome at his job and super professional."

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