Tickford keen to carry momentum into Winton
May 17, 2022
Waters doubles up at Winton
May 22, 2022
TICKFORD RACING – WINTON SUPERSPRINT SATURDAY REPORT
21 May, 2022
Monster Energy Racing’s Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang took victory in a nail-biting finish to Race 13 at the Winton SuperSprint, his first win of the 2022 Supercars Championship. After qualifying second for Saturday’s race, Waters jumped to the lead on the start and held position for the duration of the 36-lap race, but fended off championship leader Shane van Gisbergen in the race’s final corners to take his sixth career Supercars victory and first at the regional Victorian circuit.
After starting 14th, Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) used a sound and strong race to climb to 12th by the chequered flag, a welcomed result for the rookie whose Perth SuperNight was marred by first lap incidents of which he was an innocent bystander.
James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang) recovered from a frustrating qualifying result of 20th and rallied back to 13th in Race 13. Courtney retains 10th in the Supercars drivers’ championship following Saturday’s action, while the garage pairing of Courtney and Waters continues in third in the teams’ championship.
A brilliant race start from Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) was as strong as the young gun’s Race 13 had in store en route to a 24th place finish. Making up places on the first lap, Kostecki came across Car 18 which had suffered a power failure and took evasive action to avoid a major incident at Turn 3, the 22-year old damaging his suspension in the process which hampered his pace throughout the 36-lap race.
The Winton SuperSprint concludes on Sunday with Race 14 and 15 qualifying beginning at 9:40 a.m. AEST, with Race 14 at 12:25 p.m. and Race 15 at 3:35 p.m.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Practice 1: 1m19.42s, 11th
Practice 2: 1m19.04s, 11th
Race 13 Quali: 1m19.08s (Q2), 20th
Race 13 Finish: 13th
“It was a tricky old day for us, the car was pretty decent this morning but unfortunately we just tuned some performance out of it going into qualifying which made life pretty difficult, it was very tough to put a good lap together and we ended up 20th, well back from where we should be. In the race I got a good start but got caught in the craziness and got into the back of someone which gave us some front end damage we had to carry the rest of the race. Scaff (Sam Scaffidi, engineer) gave us a good strategy and coming back 13th after starting 20th is a nice recovery but not where we need to be. Fortunately the other side of our garage had a pretty good day – big congratulations to Cam and the Car 6 boys – so there’s plenty we can learn off of them and try to be up at that pointy end tomorrow.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Practice 1: 1m18.95s, 3rd
Practice 2: 1m18.72, 6th
Race 13 Quali: 1m18.33s (Q3), 2nd
Race 13 Finish: 1st
“It was an awesome race, I got the start and just had to look after the tyres and get it done. I knew he was probably a little bit quicker, even through that first stint, so I just had to have something in the tank for the end. I knew he would have a crack, and it’s awesome to come out on top. I’m just absolutely pumped, we’ve had an up and down start to the year and it’s a massive relief
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Practice 1: 1m19.50s, 15th
Practice 2: 1m19.13s, 14th
Race 13 Quali: 1m18.85s (Q2), 14th
Race 13 Finish: 12th
“Today was a nice day for us in the Castrol Racing Mustang, not an amazing day but we did some good things and had a clean race, which is fantastic after the way Perth ended for us. I couldn’t quite pull the lap together in Q2 to get to Q3 which was annoying, but we made a nice strategy call to pit early and get out in clean air for a bit. We dropped some spots later in the race but still came back 12th which is solid, I’m still chasing that top 10 but I know it’s getting closer and closer, and hopefully we can crack it tomorrow.”
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Practice 1: 1m19.51s, 16th
Practice 2: 1m19.30s, 18th
Race 13 Quali: 1m85.85s (Q2), 15th
Race 13 Finish: 24th
“Unfortunately it was a pretty tough race for us. Starting 15th was okay and I got a great start, I felt like we had a top 10 car so I was feeling pretty good, then going around Turn 3 it looks like Frosty just lost power and was crawling. I had nowhere to go and had to dive into the dirt to not has a massive shunt, but unfortunately I damaged the car missing it and I just had to crab it home. Not the way we wanted the day to go, but we’ll go again tomorrow, and congrats to Cam and the 6 team on the win.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“Cam drove brilliantly today. He of course got the better start off the front row and managed the race and his car very well, the crew gave him a good stop to get him back out just ahead of Shane, and Cam just did the rest with that race craft we love seeing out of him. We still have things to tune up, across all of our cars, but after an up and down start to the season it’s great to finally get a win under our belt.”
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 1179 points
2) Anton De Pasquale – 983
3) Will Davison – 924
4) Cam Waters – 851
10) James Courtney – 683
20) Thomas Randle – 410
25) Jake Kostecki – 369
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 1956 points
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 1907
3) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 1534
12) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 779
Ends.
