Waters 5th, Courtney 8th in Supercars return to the Gold Coast
October 29, 2022
Morrow, Vaughan make up two-car Tickford Super2 team in 2023
November 30, 2022TICKFORD RACING – GOLD COAST 500 SUNDAY REPORT
30 October, 2022
A brutal Race 32 at the Gold Coast 500 saw three of Tickford Racing’s four Ford Mustangs suffer considerable crash damage, while Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) managed a difficult seventh place finish in the final race of the weekend in Surfers Paradise.
The 85-lap race was halted on Lap 3 due to a serious accident on the back chicane that collected 11 cars, including those of Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) and James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang). Incredibly, both car crews were able to repair and return both cars to the race within 20 laps, giving both cars a chance to be classified. Unfortunately Randle suffered an electrical failure late in the race, ending his day, while Courtney managed an 17th place finish, albeit 21 laps down.
Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) managed to avoid the early carnage, but found misfortune on Lap 25 when he suffered damage to the right rear corner of his car after a miscommunication saw him turned into the wall by Car 26. After lengthy repairs in the garage, Kostecki returned to the fight, ultimately finishing 15th.
The 2022 Supercars Championship season concludes in five weeks with the return of another beloved street race event, the Adelaide 500, which takes place December 1-4 on the streets of Adelaide.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Race 32 Quali: 1m10.84s, 16th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 32 Finish: 17th
“It was a tough old day for the Snowy River Mustang. We were happy to have a clean, fast race yesterday, but today didn’t go anything like that. In qualifying we were pretty comfortably in the 10 on pace, but I got a bunch of kerb strikes at the end which deleted those laps and saw us start down the back. Then with the shunt no one had anywhere to go. You’re going so fast as it is, on two wheels going over kerbs, and you can’t see past the car ahead of you, so when someone crashes in front of a train there’s no time to react. The boys did an incredible job to get the car repaired and just in time, we were less than a lap from not being classified, so a job well done to everyone on that. We’ve had some big crashes this year and it’s not fair on the crew who have to fix it up, but huge credit to them for sticking to it and getting the job done.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Race 32 Quali: 1m10.47s, 4th
Top Ten Shootout: 1m10.72s, 3rd
Race 32 Finish: 7th
“It wasn’t the greatest day or weekend for us, we just didn’t really have the pace to compete for the podium. We went the wrong way with the car today which obviously isn’t ideal, so that made today a pretty tough battle. We’ll go back to the drawing board and see what we can improve on for the next round, Adelaide’s been a happy hunting ground for us in recent years, and like the Gold Coast it’s awesome to have it back on the calendar, so I’m looking forward to it.”
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Race 32 Quali: 1m10.59s, 7th
Top Ten Shootout: 1m11.22s, 8th
Race 32 Finish: DNF
“It was another strong day for us in qualifying, getting in the Shootout two days in a row was good. Got a good start, got whacked up the rear, and was an innocent bystander with what happened at the chicane. (James) Golding lost the rear in front of me and aborted the chicane late, then pretty much kicked the tyre bundle under me while I was up on two wheels on the normal racing line. The car had quite a bit of damage so the boys did a miraculous job to get us back out. We were just cruising around to get some points and then unfortunately I think the ECU failed and ended our race. I think a top 10 was achievable today, but I guess we’ll never know. It’s obviously not the way we wanted to end the weekend, but a big thanks to the team for giving me a quick car all weekend, and then fixing it today in the race, it was amazing.”
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Race 32 Quali: 1m11.34s, 23rd
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 32 Finish: 15th
“We just can’t buy a break at the moment, unfortunately. Qualifying was a bit tricky this morning, just getting a feel for the car after some overnight changes so I didn’t really get comfortable pushing, and we started 23rd. In the race we had a bit of luck at the start, not getting caught up in the crash in the beach chicane, I slowed way down and somehow a gap opened and we got through. We stopped a bit early after the restart which put us a lap down, but we were running our own race for a bit just trying to get into a rhythm. I got blue flags for (David) Reynolds and tried to let him by out of Turn 11 and he just got into the back of me and turned me into the fence. I don’t think it was intentional but obviously did quite a bit of damage and really ended our race. Tough way to end the weekend, but we’ll put this one behind us and refocus for another big event coming up in Adelaide.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“After going without a Safety Car yesterday, I guess this place had some making up to do. Unfortunately for Thomas and JC they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, they had no chance to avoid the crash and just got collected in someone else’s mess. Jake did a good job to back out of it and not get into that one himself, but then obviously had his own issue later on that really hurt what could have been an okay day for him. With Cam, we just didn’t really have the speed today, it’s a bit irritating but you have those days sometimes, he drove well to get what we could, and we’ll move on. Most importantly our crew deserve a huge amount of credit for their work, not just the team at the track but also the workshop-based crew. They had a huge week preparing Car 5 for this weekend and did a great job, then after the crash today to have both garages take on massive repairs and get both cars out in time to be classified was unbelievable, and for the 55/56 guys to dig into 56 after its issue and get Jake back out made it all the more impressive. Unfortunately 55 gave up towards the end there, which may have been related to the crash early on, but the team deserves a lot of praise for their efforts. Obviously today wasn’t anywhere near the results we were hoping for, but we’ll take the good with the bad and put our best foot forward for the Adelaide 500 in a few weeks.”
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 3382 points
2) Cam Waters – 2722
3) Chaz Mostert – 2547
14) James Courtney – 1565
22) Jake Kostecki – 1135
23) Thomas Randle – 1045
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 5519 points
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 4836
3) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 4287
11) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 2150
Ends.
