James Courtney on Adelaide 500 podium
December 3, 2022
Tickford Racing and Jake Kostecki part ways
January 11, 2023
TICKFORD RACING – ADELAIDE 500 SUNDAY REPORT
4 December, 2022
With a fourth-place finish in Race 34 of the 2022 Supercars Championship, Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) has sealed second in the 2022 drivers’ championship. It is the second time in the last three seasons that Waters has taken runner-up honours in the championship, and comes in tow of three wins and 10 poles across the 34-race campaign.
Waters also sealed the Armor All Pole Position Award for 2022 early on Sunday, given to the driver with the most pole positions across the season. It is the first time the 28-year old has accomplished that feat.
Following a podium finish on Saturday in Race 33, James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans) started Sunday’s race from 18th after a frustrating qualifying effort, but worked his way to inside the top 10 when he was collected in an incident on Lap 50 of the 78-lap race. With several cars colliding in front of him at Turn 9, Courtney had nowhere to go and was forced into the runoff to avoid a crash of his own, dropping to 20th on the road, and only managing to recover to 17th by the chequered flag.
Courtney finishes the season 12th in the Supercars drivers’ championship, while the garage pairing of Waters and Courtney claimed third in the teams’ championship, helping Tickford Racing to retain its place in pit lane for a fifth consecutive year.
With a still-wounded race car thanks to a Saturday practice crash, Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) started Race 34 from 15th and finished 18th after a challenging race that included being spun on a Lap 48 restart.
Jake Kostecki’s (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) 2022 season came to a rapid halt early in Race 34, where the second-year driver slammed the Turn 8 wall on Lap 17, ending his race.
A big offseason lies ahead for Tickford Racing and the rest of the Supercars Championship, with incoming Gen3 car builds and testing set to take place in preparation for the 2023 campaign that begins on the streets of Newcastle, March 10-12, 2023.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Race 34 Quali: 1m19.76s, 18th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 34 Finish: 17th
“Today seemed to sum up our whole season. We had a pretty quick car, like yesterday, but I made a little mistake in qualifying which put us down the back, and obviously that makes the race pretty difficult. Scaff (Sam Scaffidi, engineer) did an awesome job with strategy, again, to get us into the top 10, and we were looking pretty comfortable there before Will (Davison) and all those other guys decided to pile into each other at Turn 9. I had nowhere to go and got stuck in the runoff waiting for the traffic to clear. We did nothing wrong, just the wrong place at the wrong time and it dropped us to the back of the pack. Obviously it’s a disappointing way to end the year, we were 12th at the end of it but considering all the dramas we had it shows how speedy we could be in the Snowy River Mustang. Three podiums is really good, standing on the podium here in Adelaide was awesome, and I’ve really enjoyed this season and working with this team. We’ll wind down and reset over the holidays, and bring it right back in the new year, can’t wait.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Race 34 Quali: 1m19.11s, 1st
Top Ten Shootout: 1m19.77s, 6th
Race 34 Finish: 4th
“It was a decent day, obviously you always want to finish the season with a trophy but we didn’t have the pace or track position we had yesterday, and fourth was really the best we could manage in the end. Second in the championship is nice, and third in the teams’, so overall a pretty good year for us, but there’s still plenty to improve on and work on to go for a championship in 2023. A huge thanks to the team, our sponsors, fans, and families for their support, it’s been a great year and I’ve really enjoyed it, and I’m really looking forward to next year and coming out swinging in Newcastle.”
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Race 34 Quali: 1m19.64s, 15th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 34 Finish: 18th
“It was definitely a disappointing day, a disappointing weekend, really, even though it had so much promise. The car was still wounded today after yesterday’s crash, I qualified 15th which wasn’t great, but okay in the circumstances, and then the race was just a bit of a punish all the way through, we couldn’t get a break. It’s an unfortunate way to end to the season, as much as I’d love to say I’m satisfied with my rookie year I’m definitely not. We had some bright spots and the start of this weekend was one of them, but overall it wasn’t the season we had hoped for. A massive thanks to the team, my team mates, the Castrol Racing crew, and all our sponsors for their effort and support across the year, it really means a lot. I’m certainly looking forward to putting in some good work in the offseason and coming out strong in a Gen3 Ford Mustang at Newcastle next year.”
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Race 34 Quali: 1m19.65s, 16th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 34 Finish: DNF
“Obviously that’s the last way I would’ve wanted to end this season. I just had a bit of a moment in Turn 8 and like so many other people did, once you got off line there was just no grip, so once I was out there I couldn’t do anything to save it. It’s a disappointing way to end the year, it’s been pretty tough but I’ve learnt a lot, I’ve really enjoyed working with the team here at Tickford and my team mates. We had some good moments during the year – some top 10s and good racing – and going to a new car next year is pretty exciting. I’m definitely looking forward to 2023 and having a big crack at it leading into the new season.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“It certainly wasn’t the way we wanted to send off our 2022 season, with three cars finding trouble and the other just off the podium, but we wrapped up third in the teams’ championship which is nice, and also Cam taking second in the drivers’ standings is a nice result for our season. Of course we’d like to be a couple of places higher, but we have plenty of positives to take away from this year, and plenty of things we can work on to go that little bit better in 2023. It’s been a huge year for the team, there have been so many ups and downs, it’s been pretty unbelievable thinking what all has happened across this year, but we’re really very proud of every member of our team, our commercial partners, members, and fans, it’s been an awesome journey to be a part of. Obviously it’s a whole new game next year with the new car – and we’re very much looking forward to getting that new Gen3 Mustang on track – so it’ll be a big offseason for all of us, but we’re very excited for what’s to come and can’t wait to hit the track in the new year.”
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES
The Dunlop Super2 Series also concluded its 2022 championship on Sunday, where Zak Best started second and finished third in Race 12 of the 2022 campaign. Best also claimed third place for the Adelaide event and secured his second consecutive runner-up result in the Super2 championship standings.
Tickford Racing welcomes Elly Morrow and newly-crowned Super3 Series champion Brad Vaughan to its Dunlop Super2 Series program in 2023 as the team expands to two cars and enters Ford Mustangs in the championship. The 2023 Super2 Series kicks off March 10-12 at the Newcastle 500 in support of Supercars.
No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X
Zak Best
Race 12 Start: 2nd
Race 12 Finish: 3rd
“We knew it was a long shot for us to win the championship today, but we definitely threw everything at it today. Unfortunately we didn’t have the pace to get up to the front and we ended up third in the race and the round, it’s not bad but obviously short of our goals which is disappointing. I’m frustrated to come second again, but really appreciate the hard work the team has put in this year to get us there, it’s been a great ride and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way.”
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 3523 points
2) Cam Waters – 2908
3) Chaz Mostert – 2835
12) James Courtney – 1748
22) Jake Kostecki – 1192
23) Thomas Randle – 1156
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 5900
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 5172
3) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 4656
12) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 2318
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Declan Fraser – 1383 points
2) Zak Best – 1257
3) Matthew Payne – 1209
Ends.
