Team 18 driver David Reynolds.
Last year, Supercars added Friday afternoon races to three of its events – Sydney, Townsville and Adelaide. Darwin joined that list this year.
This weekend’s Perth Super440 features three races across Saturday and Sunday – beginning with a pair of 120km races before a 200km feature.
Ironically, Wanneroo Raceway would be the perfect venue for a Friday afternoon sprint thanks to the two-hour time difference to the east coast.
The Friday race format comes with its challenges, though, giving teams just one practice session to sort their car setup before qualifying.
Reynolds reckons it hasn’t helped Team 18 get on top of his Chevrolet Camaro.
“I personally hate racing on Friday,” said the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner.
“Normally we turn up on Friday, we have a couple of practices, it’s relaxed, easing ourselves into the weekend.
“But if we race on a Friday we’ve got to turn up and there’s a gun to our head and we’ve got to qualify and race and it’s all way too hectic.
“It’s probably good as a spectator, so you get an extra race on another day, but it’s just a hectic three days of stress and anxiety and everything instead of having a nice Friday and worrying about the weekend after that.
“That’s just my personal take.”
Reynolds is only 15th in the drivers’ championship and more than 200 points behind 10th placed Jack Le Brocq.
The Supercars veteran is still searching for his victory of the season, while teammate Anton De Pasquale has won twice.
Reynolds, who has just two top five finishes this season, offered some optimism before the weekend began at Wanneroo Raceway.
“It’s up and down on my side,” he said.
“When my car’s good, I feel like I’m at the front, and when it’s not, I feel like I’m off the pace, and that’s just motor racing.
“I feel like on the car #18 side, they’ve been more on top of their setup than my side of the garage.
“That’s racing, that’s what we do. When we get it right, I think we’re in with a chance.
“Twelve months ago we learned a lot about our car at this track. Hopefully we can start with that base setup we finished with and we’ll have a really good round.
“All things considered, we should be okay.”
Supercars practice at Wanneroo Raceway gets underway on Friday at 5:00pm AEST.
Supercars Perth Super440 – Schedule, how to watch, TV times, & more