Reynolds: Mountain junior ahead of TCR premiere
SCENE CHANGE Joshua C. Reynolds was one of the eight finalists in the 2017 Swiss Race Academy. This year, the Emmetter native is switching from Swiss hillclimb racing to circuit racing. At Topcar Sport, he will be driving a Cupra in the ADAC TCR Germany. Last year, Joshua C. Reynolds managed to qualify for the Swiss Race Academy and [...]
Last year, Joshua C. Reynolds managed to qualify for the Swiss Race Academy and was thus allowed to participate in the Swiss Mountain Championship Junior. However, the now 22-year-old rookie, who previously only had experience from track days, did not manage more than seventh place (in the first race in the rain at Reitnau) among the eight competitors.
This should and ought to change in 2018, although the grapes are now hanging even higher. The native of Nidwalden in Seattle (USA), whose full name is Joshua Alejandro Correa Reynolds (his father is Venezuelan), will be driving one of Topcar Sport's three Cupra TCRs in the ADAC TCR Germany.
His teammate is the just 17-year-old German Loris Prattes, who was still driving for Schläppi Race-Tec from Meiringen in the Clio Cup Europe in 2017. A third Cupra from Topcar will not be used until the last three German TCR races, each with one of the three finalists in the 2018 Young Driver Challenge. Team co-owner Ronny Jost is concentrating on driver and car support this year and is racing endurance cars instead.
Away from the last place
To ensure that the move from the mountain to the circuit does not turn into another jump into the deep end for Reynolds, he has been preparing for his new role at private and official test drives. At Oschersleben last week, he met his rivals for the first time this year, who were preparing for the season opener on April 14/15 at the same venue during the joint test.
In the third and fourth sessions, "Josh" improved from last place to 19th and 18th among 22 riders. In his fastest lap he last lost less than a second per kilometer, but overall still 3.165 to the top.
Reynolds is therefore under no illusions. The goal is to move up from last place, which he occupied in 2017 with the Toyota GT86 in three of the four hillclimb races and in the championship.
Joshua Reynolds: "I hope and think that will change. The circuit suits me more than the mountain, but this was a good school. I just want to prove myself and would like it if I can make it into the top 20."
Team manager Ronny Jost sees it similarly.
Ronny Jost: "It won't be easy for him. We're working on getting him to the front of the midfield and putting an exclamation mark or two on his performance. I see fewer problems in the races. The bigger difficulty for him will be to pull off right away with fresh tires and mark a top time."
