Tickford’s three in the 10 in Race 24

TICKFORD RACING – SANDOWN SUPERSPRINT SATURDAY REPORT
20 August, 2022
Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) scored his 15^th top five finish of the 2022 Supercars season on Saturday, leading the four-car Ford team in Race 24 of the current campaign in which the team placed three cars in the top 10. After a disappointing qualifying saw the 28-year old start from 12^th on the grid, Waters climbed seven places in the 36-lap race, marking his eighth straight finish in the top five.

Waters was followed closely home by James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans) in sixth place, as the former series champion continues his recent strong run of form. The result also vaults Courtney into ninth in the drivers’ standing through 24 races.

Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang) scored his best race result of 2022 with a ninth place finish in Race 24, after leading the team earlier in the day by qualifying fifth in his second consecutive Top Ten Shootout.

Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) took a gamble on tyre strategy in Saturday’s 36-lap race, taking three tyres during his compulsory pit stop while most competitors took two. Despite the tyre advantage, however, Kostecki struggled to make ground amidst a train of slower cars, and ultimately finished 22^nd in the first race of the weekend.

The Sandown SuperSprint continues on Sunday with Race 25 and 26 qualifying taking place back-to-back from 10:55 a.m. AEST, followed by Race 25 at 1:05 p.m. and Race 26 at 4:20 p.m.

DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Practice 3: 1m10.26s, 15th
Race 24 Quali: 1m08.29s (Shootout), 7th
Race 24 Finish: 6th
“It was a pretty good day for us, really. We only had one practice yesterday which didn’t quite go to plan for us, but we make some positive changes with the car overnight and it felt a fair bit better in practice this morning. It was nice to make it into the Shootout, as it always is, and then moving up a spot in the race to sixth is solid. We gained some ground in the championship which was good, and being right behind Cam, a fifth and sixth is good for the teams’ points as well. It was a good day, but we’re always trying to go faster so we’ll keep working at it overnight and see if we can get the Snowy River Mustang further up the order tomorrow.”
 
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Practice 3: 1m09.18s, 1st
Race 24 Quali: 1m07.84s (Q2), 12th
Race 24 Finish: 5th
“Fifth is pretty good in the end, the car was speedy, it looked after its tyres pretty well, so it was good to come through the field after qualifying didn’t go so well this morning. The car’s quick, but we can make it a little quicker, obviously qualifying better will make life easier tomorrow, so we’ll put our heads down, give her a little tune up, and go chasing more trophies tomorrow.”
 
No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
Practice 3: 1m10.01s, 13th
Race 24 Quali: 1m08.01s, 5th
Race 24 Finish: 9th
“It’s a really solid result, obviously I’ve been really looking forward to getting back on track, and to get back into the Shootout was awesome, and qualifying in the top five was a great start to the day. We lost a few spots through the pit exchange and in getting the tyres up to temperature, which is a little bit disappointing, but to come home ninth is a really good result, both for me and the crew. So many times this year we’ve been so close to the 10, it’s nice to finally get one on the board, and hopefully we can back it up with a couple more tomorrow.”
 
No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
Practice 3: 1m10.86s, 22nd
Race 24 Quali: 1m08.20s, 16th
Race 24 Finish: 22nd
“It just wasn’t really our day today. We couldn’t quite get the car to do what we needed in qualifying, so we started 16^th, and in the race we kind of just got stuck. I got caught in a train of cars, I was faster than most of them but I couldn’t get close enough to make a move. We wanted to try something different in the stop to get ahead of them so we took three tyres, but unfortunately we couldn’t make the time back and pass those guys, so it ended up hurting us quite a bit. Not the way we wanted the day to go, but we’re not far away, so we’ll tune it up tonight and go again tomorrow.”
 
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“We certainly aim to be spraying champagne, ideally on the top step of the podium at that, so while it’s unfortunate not to have a trophy it is good to bring three cars back in the top 10. Obviously Cam showed his race car is far better than where he started and JC continued the good run he’s been on since Townsville, and it was great to see Thomas get back on track with a day like he had, it’s great for him and the Castrol crew to be solidly in the 10 all day. Jake was unfortunately a victim of a train of cars, he was stuck behind a bunch of slower cars and tried something different to try and pass them, it just didn’t pan out how we hoped. It’s a solid day all up, but we’ll dig into the data tonight look to go a few spots better tomorrow.”

DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES
Fresh off his starring cameo as a Supercars wildcard last month, Zak Best (No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X) returned to Dunlop Super2 Series action on Saturday, taking home second place in a wild Race 7 of the feeder series season. After a poor initial start, Best dropped from second to sixth, avoided an incident to climb to third, ran as high as second before dropping to third, and was awarded second as the race winner was handed a 15-second time penalty during the race. By keeping his nose mostly clean while other championship rivals stumbled, Best climbed from fifth to second in the Super2 Series standings, ahead of another day of racing coming on Sunday.
 
The Dunlop Super2 Series continues its weekend at the Sandown SuperSprint on Sunday with Race 8 qualifying at 10:15 a.m. AEST, with Race 8 set to take place at 3:00 p.m.
 
No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X
Zak Best
Race 7 Quali: 1m10.27s, 2nd
Race 7 Finish: 2nd
“The race was pretty crazy today, unfortunately I got a heap of wheel spin on the start and dropped back to sixth, then we were back up to third a few laps later when some guys crashed in front of us. It was back and forth a bit, and with Tyler’s (Everingham) penalty we ended up effective P2, I wanted to have a crack for the win but it was better to take second and some good points, it gets us back up to second in the championship, so a good day considering all that went on. It was a pretty wild day, but good hunting for the championship and the car’s quick, we’ll try and go one better tomorrow.”
 
SUPERCARS DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Shane van Gisbergen – 2288 points
2) Anton De Pasquale – 1887
3) Cam Waters – 1877
9) James Courtney – 1259
21) Thomas Randle – 777
22) Jake Kostecki – 747
 
SUPERCARS TEAMS’ CHAMPIONSHIP
1) Triple Eight Race Engineering – 3798 points
2) Dick Johnson Racing – 3724
3) Tickford Racing (5/6) – 3136
11) Tickford Racing (55/56) – 1524
 
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES STANDINGS
1) Declan Fraser – 882 points
2) Zak Best – 729
3) Cameron Hill – 726
 
Ends.