Waters fourth as Best breaks record
July 30, 2022
Tickford Mustangs race on home turf
August 17, 2022
TICKFORD RACING – THE BEND SUPERSPRINT SUNDAY REPORT
31 July, 2022
Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) and James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang) collected podium finishes on Sunday at the OTR SuperSprint, with Courtney finishing third in Race 22 and Waters finishing second in Race 23 of the 2022 Supercars Championship season.
The results move Waters to second in the Supercars drivers’ championship after the eighth round of the season. Waters also scored his sixth and seventh poles of the season on Sunday morning, taking pole for both of the Sunday races.
Courtney’s podium is his second of the 2022 season and 63rd of his career, and following his 12th place finish in Race 23 retains 11th in the drivers’ championship, while the garage pairing of he and Waters extends its cushion on third in the teams’ championship.
Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) suffered a difficult day in South Australia, with an 18th place finish in Race 22 before not being classified in Race 23. With the day’s second race taking place in wet conditions, Kostecki was collected in an early incident and was forced to pit to replace his front bumper. Kostecki returned to the race but ultimately finished seven laps down, one lap shy of the required amount to be classified.
After a starring Saturday where he became the youngest pole sitter in Supercars history, Zak Best (No. 78 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang) had a more trying Sunday, although still impressed with a seventh-place qualifying effort for Race 23. After a 19th place finish in Race 22, Best was forced to retire from Race 23 after his windscreen wiper failed early in the race.
Thomas Randle’s (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) Sunday got off to a brilliant start, qualifying a career-best second for Race 22 and eighth for Race 23. However, Randle stalled leaving the line at the start of Race 22 and was then hit from behind by another car, severely damaging the back of his Mustang and taking him out of both Race 22 and 23.
Randle was later transferred by ground to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for evaluation of his left foot, with x-rays returning negative on Sunday afternoon. The 26-year old was discharged late Sunday and will undergo an MRI in the coming days for further assessment.
The Supercars Championship next hits the track at the Sandown SuperSprint, taking place August 19-21 at Sandown Raceway in Melbourne’s south east.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Race 22 Quali: 1m48.68s, 4th
Race 23 Quali: 1m48.59s, 5th
Race 22 Finish: 3rd
Race 23 Finish: 12th
“What a crazy old Sunday. Qualifying was great this morning, we should have been up in the 10 yesterday, but the boys made a few nice changes with the car and made it even better, so it was fantastic to stick it up in the top five for both races. Race (22) was pretty crazy with the crash at the start – obviously the main thing is that Thomas and Andre (Heimgartner) are okay which is good to see – but yeah, Cam and I ended up racing, we were trying to play nice while still being race car drivers, and I ended up ahead and we were able to bring it home third and fourth. It was awesome to score another podium for the team and bring back another trophy. The second race today was nuts, really slippery in the wet but good fun, we were running pretty well but it started getting incredibly difficult to see where I was going and we dropped some places as a result. It was a bit frustrating, but better to come home 12th than in the wall. Hats off to the team for their work this weekend, we’ll come back stronger and hopefully have more champagne in our future.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Race 22 Quali: 1m48.35s, 1st
Race 23 Quali: 1m48.34s, 1st
Race 22 Finish: 4th
Race 23 Finish: 2nd
“First thing is it’s good to see Thomas and Andre are okay after that shunt. It was a pretty hectic day, we tuned up the car overnight and it was awesome to grab a couple poles this morning. In the first race I didn’t get a great start, got bumped around a bit and that hurt us a bit, but we got back to fourth, and the second race was wild in the wet. It was awesome racing with Shane (van Gisbergen), it was so hard to find the grip, every corner was different, and it was really cool trading the lead back and forth. Once the grip came back a bit I couldn’t quite keep up with him but it was still good to come back second. A good weekend for points, and I’m looking forward to going to Sandown in a few weeks.”
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Race 22 Quali: 1m48.43s, 2nd
Race 23 Quali: 1m48.64s, 8th
Race 22 Finish: DNF
Race 23 Finish: DNS
“I have to say, that was the biggest shunt of my life. I’m okay, my foot’s a bit sore but so far all the signs are good so hopefully it’s just a bruise, a big thanks to the boys and girls at Tickford for building such a strong car, and a thank you as well to the medical and safety teams for their help and assistance. It’s super disappointing not to get to race though, qualifying on the front row was amazing, our car was really good and I think we could have had a couple of really strong races today. I’m gutted not to see what we could have achieved, but I guess it’s a good thing that I’m more upset about that. For now I’ll rest up and we’ll regroup for Sandown.”
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Race 22 Quali: 1m49.78s, 24th
Race 23 Quali: 1m49.20s, 19th
Race 22 Finish: 18th
Race 23 Finish: NC
“It was a difficult day and a difficult weekend for us, unfortunately. We just didn’t really have the pace we needed this weekend, we worked hard at it but just couldn’t get the car in the window. We missed the timing line in first quali today so we didn’t really help ourselves there, and the races weren’t that great either. We had to pit and replace the front bar in the second race after I got caught in someone else’s crash, and unfortunately we were one lap behind being classified, just a tough end to the weekend. It’s definitely frustrating, but I’m looking forward to Sandown in a few weeks, it’s a track I like and the Tickford cars have usually gone well there so hopefully we can put together another good weekend there.”
No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Mustang
Zak Best
Race 22 Quali: 1m49.30s, 16th
Race 23 Quali: 1m48.63s, 7th
Race 22 Finish: 19th
Race 23 Finish: DNF
“It was a pretty wild day today, first qualifying didn’t go too great but it was nice to back it up with another top 10 start for Race (23). I just missed the crash at the start and after that the first race was pretty straightforward, and the second race we unfortunately had to retire because my windscreen wiper wasn’t working. We dug into it in the garage but couldn’t get it going, and it wasn’t safe to go back out without it, so a bit of a disappointing way to end, but overall it was a really awesome weekend. Big thanks to the crew for their hard work, and also it’s good to see Thomas and Andre doing okay after the crash earlier today.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“First and foremost we’re glad Thomas and Andre are well, it was a pretty big shunt and a credit to the work we’ve put into the safety of these cars that they both walked away. As for our day, it was very much the ups and downs of motorsport for us. We certainly stepped up our competitiveness as a team from Saturday to Sunday which was great, having a front row lockout for the first race and four cars in the top eight for the second was a great improvement. It’s a bit of a shame we couldn’t convert that into a win, but having JC and Cam both come back with podiums is very solid and a good points day for both of them. Unfortunately Jake had a frustrating day and Zak was impressive in qualifying but had his challenges in the races. Thomas’ day needs little explaining, but it was fantastic to see him qualifying at the front and showing the speed we know he has. He’s in good spirits in Adelaide and feeling okay, just a bit sore, but we’ll let him rest up and help get him back up to speed as we need to. Certainly a mixed bag of a weekend, but we’ll move forward onto Sandown and look to perform well there.”
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 2196 points
2) Cam Waters – 1803
3) Anton de Pasquale – 1801
11) James Courtney – 1191
22) Jake Kostecki – 721
23) Thomas Randle – 721
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 3659 points
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 3538
3) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 2994
11) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 1442
Ends.
