Waters back on the podium in WA
May 1, 2022
Tickford keen to carry momentum into Winton
May 17, 2022
TICKFORD RACING – PERTH SUPERNIGHT SUNDAY REPORT
1 May, 2022
It was an eventful Sunday for Tickford Racing at the Perth SuperNight, in which the team experienced the full gamete of emotions across its four cars in Races 11 and 12 of the 2022 Supercars Championship.
The team’s highlight of the day came courtesy of James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang), whose bold strategy in Race 12 saw the 2010 Supercars champion pit early and undercut his competitors to take the lead of the race on Lap 32. With ageing tyres, Courtney ultimately surrendered the lead with seven laps to go, but held on to take second place in Race 12, his 62nd career podium finish. Paired with a seventh place finish in Race 11 earlier on Sunday, Courtney moves to 10th in the Supercars drivers’ championship after four rounds.
Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) started his Sunday brilliantly, converting another front row start to take the lead of Race 11, and comfortably leading the field for 38 of 46 laps before being dealt a major blow by the stewards late in the race. Following his Lap 25 pit stop in Race 11, Waters was challenged for the effective lead by Car 17 at Turn 7, forcing Waters wide at the exit of the corner. Waters re-joined the circuit ahead of Car 17, however was assessed a five-second penalty by the stewards for “unsafe re-entry”, and although he took the chequered flag first, was classified fourth following his time penalty.
The 27-year old followed that result with a seventh place finish in Race 12 late on Sunday afternoon, completing a weekend that sees the Monster Energy Racing driver climb to fourth in the drivers’ championship.
Perth native Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) put in a tremendous performance on Sunday, qualifying a career-best third for Race 11 and ninth for Race 12. Small miscues in the day’s first race saw Kostecki finish ninth in Race 11, but the 22-year old was in eighth place in the late stages of Race 12 when Car 99 – driven by his cousin, Brodie Kostecki – speared into the side of Jake in Turn 7 on the penultimate lap of the race. Fired off into the sandtrap, the Tradie Racing driver could not continue to finish the race, and was officially not classified as a finisher in a frustrating end to an otherwise encouraging weekend for the young West Australian.
After qualifying ninth and finishing 12th in Saturday’s race at Wanneroo, Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) endured a disaster of a Sunday in which the rookie was caught up in first lap incidents of both races, neither of which were of his doing. Randle was squeezed and collected by Car 10 at the start of Race 11, damaging both cars’ front corners, and was spun out by Car 18 at Turn 5 on the opening lap of Race 12. Randle finished both races, in 20th and 22nd respectively.
The 2022 Supercars Championship season continues later this month at the Winton SuperSprint, taking place May 21-22 at Winton Motor Raceway.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Race 11 Quali: 53.86s, 9th
Race 12 Quali: 53.68s, 8th
Race 11 Finish: 7th
Race 12 Finish: 2nd
“Today was great. We had, again, two top 10s in qualifying, we didn’t quite get the most out of qualifying, but to come out with eighth and ninth was good. After this afternoon’s race, to be honest I can’t remember what happened in the first race today. But the second race was fantastic, I had a really good start, made up some positions. The guys did a cracking job with the stop, it was a sub-three second stop which is amazing. Scaff (Sam Scaffidi, race engineer), and Blake (Adamson, data engineer), when they told me they wanted me to pit around Lap 10-12, it was pretty risky, but we had good car speed so we decided to roll the dice with that early stop. We put in some really good laps consistently, really managing that tyre, and we were able to lead until right at the end. Great job from everyone at the team, sorry to Cam this morning, I think he was really hard done by that penalty, but to be able to reward my guys with a podium after what happened to us at the Grand Prix is fantastic.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Race 11 Quali: 53.66s, 2nd
Race 12 Quali: 53.66s, 6th
Race 11 Finish: 4th (following five-second penalty)
Race 12 Finish: 7th
“That’s Sunday done and dusted. Race one today, I have nothing more to say about that, I felt a bit robbed. The second race today, I kind of got stuck behind a few cars but just wasn’t quite quick enough to pass them so we ended up seventh, but I’m super pumped for JC. We had a really good weekend as a whole, and it’s great for the team to move forward in the teams’ championship. I’m up to fourth now as well, so not a bad weekend.”
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Race 11 Quali: 54.08s, 17th
Race 12 Quali: 53.83s, 14th
Race 11 Finish: 20th
Race 12 Finish: 22nd
“A pretty tough old day for the Car 55, Castrol Racing crew. We couldn’t catch a break, really, we got caught in two first lap incidents that were out of my control. Unfortunately we finished a lap down in both races, but at least we finished and we scored a couple points. We had really good car speed, but I’m just disappointed that we weren’t able to show it today. Thanks again to all the boys at Tickford Racing and our supporters for cheering us on, and I can’t wait to get to Winton in a couple of weeks and show everyone what we’ve got.”
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Race 11 Quali: 53.72s, 3rd
Race 12 Quali: 53.75s, 9th
Race 11 Finish: 9th
Race 12 Finish: DNF
“That’s Perth run and done. We started with two top 10s in qualifying this morning, so I was stoked for the whole team and the Tradie Racing boys, they’ve been working pretty hard for it. We had good qualifying speed, and we turned it into P9 in the first race today, but in the last race we were in P8 and then Brodie obviously made a mistake and took us out. That’s not what we want and I’m sure he’s not happy with that either, he’s pretty upset, but we’ll keep our heads down and try to get more points at the next one.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“It’s hard to summarise today concisely, it was one extreme to the other. In the first race, we have a pretty clear opinion on what happened with Cam and Will (Davison, Car 17), at least I made it pretty clear on the broadcast, and seeing the reaction from the fans, drivers, and other teams we certainly aren’t alone in that thinking. But while that was hugely frustrating, seeing JC lead the second race and come home P2 was hugely gratifying, he obviously deserved that podium at the Grand Prix and has been driving really well, and Scaff made the ballsy call to pit early, and it just about paid off massively, but it was a much sweeter way to end the day. Our young pups deserve some credit too. Jake did a great job in quali this morning, and was on for two top 10s until his cousin decided to ruin the party, but it’s really encouraging for that side of the garage to see him driving well, hopefully it’s a sign of things to come. As for Thomas, he simply couldn’t catch a break, but despite those results he also had really good car speed, so overall we’re pretty pleased with our performance this weekend. We still have things to tune up before Winton, but we took a very good step in the teams’ championship this weekend, and will look to continue this momentum when we get to Winton.”
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES
After a dismal Saturday in which he was taken out of Race 3 by a backmarker, Zak Best (No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X) returned to action Sunday in the Dunlop Super2 Series for Race 4 of the 2022 season, but in a challenging day qualified sixth and finished seventh to conclude the second round of his 2022 campaign.
The Dunlop Super2 Series resumes in July at the NTI Townsville 500, but prior to that Best will make his solo debut in Supercars’ main game as a wildcard entry at the Darwin Triple Crown in June.
No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FGX
Zak Best
Race 4 Quali: 55.35s, 6th
Race 4 Finish: 7th
“Unfortunately it was another hard day for us. We improved a little bit in qualifying this morning and ended up sixth, and I got up to fifth early in the race, but it was pretty tough to pass and our race car wasn’t too great, I got passed a couple times and we came home seventh. It definitely wasn’t the weekend we wanted, but we’ll regroup for Townsville in a couple months and come back stronger.”
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 1087 points
2) Anton De Pasquale – 923
3) Will Davison – 876
4) Cam Waters – 751
10) James Courtney – 639
21) Thomas Randle – 364
24) Jake Kostecki – 347
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 1812 points
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 1799
3) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 1090
12) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 599
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES
1) Matthew Payne – 546 points
2) Declan Fraser – 462
3) Tyler Everingham – 450
7) Zak Best – 384
Ends.
