Soft tyre struggles hit Tickford in Melbourne 400 opener
April 8, 2022
Waters’ 7th leads Tickford in Race 9 at Melbourne 400
April 10, 2022
TICKFORD RACING – MELBOURNE 400 SATURDAY REPORT
9 April, 2022
Saturday’s two Supercars races at the Melbourne 400 proved a challenging affair for Tickford Racing, with a podium for James Courtney (No. 500 FLEX Ford Mustang) and a top five finish for Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) evaporating following incidents in the second half of Race 7, the first of two races on Saturday at the Australian Grand Prix.
After a clever drive through Race 7, Courtney was in third place when he was spun out by Car 25 in the final corner of the 20-lap race, collecting the wall at Turn 14 and taking the chequered flag tenth. Courtney was elevated to ninth following a post-race penalty assigned to Car 25, and replicated that result on Saturday afternoon in Race 8, despite struggling with clutch issues during that 20-lap contest.
Waters was also in the thick of the action in Race 7, and found himself on the receiving end of a penalty following a Lap 10 incident with Car 17 at Turn 3. Having been running nose-to-tail with Car 17, Waters was unable to react in time when the former braked earlier than Waters was expecting, and the 27-year old’s drive through penalty relegated him to 21st in Race 7. Waters was the lead Tickford car in Race 8, finishing eighth, and will start Race 9 on Sunday from fifth position, giving him perhaps his best chance at standing on the podium once more at Albert Park
Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) was one of only a handful of cars to start Race 7 on the Hard compound tyre, and was forced onto the Soft tyre earlier than desired thanks to an untimely early Safety Car, ultimately making three pit stops en route to an 18th place finish. The 26-year old rebounded to a degree, however, in Race 8, recording a season-best finish of 11th in the Saturday afternoon bout.
As a result of his crash in qualifying on Thursday, Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) started Race 7 from the rear of the field, but climbed to 13th in a sound performance in Saturday morning’s race. A more settled Race 8 saw Kostecki finish 20th, having found himself stuck behind slower cars in the race’s closing stages.
Supercars action at the Melbourne 400 concludes on Sunday with Race 9, the final race of the weekend, starting at 12:00 p.m. AEST.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Race 7 Start: 7th
Race 7 Finish: 21st
Race 8 Start: 11th
Race 8 Finish: 8th
“It wasn’t a great day for us, eighth was okay at the end but I’m pretty frustrated with this morning’s race. Wilbur (Davison) was struggling and I was right on the back of him down the straight, unfortunately he just braked way earlier than I was expecting and I had no time to react. I was always going to get done for that so it is what it is, but it’s a shame to lose a good result like that. Tomorrow’s a new day, and we’re starting up front so we’ll try and finish the weekend on a high note.”
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Race 7 Start: 23rd
Race 7 Finish: 18th
Race 8 Start: 16th
Race 8 Finish: 11th
“Today was pretty good for us in the Castrol Racing garage. The first race was a bit unfortunate, we took the gamble to start on Hards and the early Safety Car forced us to pit and put the Softs on way earlier than we wanted. It’s never ideal when you pit three times in 20 laps so I guess 18th isn’t too bad there, but it was nice to finish the day with 11th, we probably could’ve been a little higher up, but it’s a new best for the year, and we’re starting fourth tomorrow which is exciting, so we’ll look to go better in the morning.”
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Race 7 Start: 25th
Race 7 Finish: 13th
Race 8 Start: 20th
Race 8 Finish: 20th
“Two races done today, two very different races. This morning’s race was pretty good, I just stayed out of the carnage, had a good stop and good strategy, and the car was pretty good, so to come 13th from last was nice. This afternoon wasn’t quite as good, we made some changes that didn’t quite work with the car, and I just got stuck in the train of a few cars so it was hard to pass. Overall though I think the car’s a bit better, and we’ll try to tune it up tonight to finish tomorrow with a better result.”
No. 500 FLEX Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Race 7 Start: 6th
Race 7 Finish: 9th
Race 8 Start: 7th
Race 8 Finish: 9th
“Two top 10s from two races today, it looks okay but we could be and should be higher up. In the first race today I had the thing with Chaz (Mostert), getting punted out of a podium is never fun, and in the afternoon race I lost my clutch pretty early so I lost time in my stop just leaving the box really slow. We were pretty close with the guys we were racing so those couple of seconds we lost were pretty costly. It could’ve been worse, but it definitely could’ve, if not should’ve been better, so we’ll give it our best tomorrow and look to move up in the last race of the weekend.
On Race 7 incident with Car 25:
“We’re racing for the podium, so of course we’re going to race hard. I like hard racing as much as anyone, but that crossed the line in my view, and the stewards’. It’s a shame, it would’ve been great to get on the podium for the team who have worked so hard, for our sponsors who have supported us, and celebrate that, so for that to happen in the last corner’s pretty disappointing.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“I have to say, after this morning’s race it seemed like we should be looking to the sky for falling pianos. Cam was in a tough spot in his incident, being that close to the car in front he had no time to react when Will got on the brakes, and with more cars right behind him he couldn’t back out early because he’d have gotten hit, it was a bit of a rock and hard place. And JC getting dumped out of third just poured salt in the wound, he did a great job and certainly deserved a podium so that was particularly frustrating. The afternoon race was okay, but eighth and ninth aren’t the results we’ve come to expect from ourselves, so there’s still work to do. That said, our young guys had a pretty solid day, Jake had a very good first race to climb through the field, and Thomas going P11 in the second race was good, but we certainly feel we have better results in the cars. Fortunately we have some good grid positions for tomorrow, and we’ve steadily improved the cars each day, so we’re in a good position to finish the weekend strong, we just have to go out and do it.”
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 781 points
2) Anton de Pasquale – 595
3) Chaz Mostert – 566
8) Cam Waters – 473
12) James Courtney – 400
21) Thomas Randle – 262
24) Jake Kostecki – 228
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 1290 points
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 1148
3) Walkinshaw Andretti United – 906
6) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 873
12) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 490
Ends.
