Castrol Racing returns to full-time grid with Randle, Tickford
December 2, 2021
Waters, Le Brocq qualify for Bathurst Shootout
December 4, 2021
TICKFORD RACING – BATHRUST 1000 THURSDAY REPORT
2 December, 2021
Tickford Racing’s Bathurst 1000 effort got off to a solid start on Thursday, where the three-car team was paced by Cam Waters and James Moffat’s No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang in each of Thursday’s practice sessions. Waters topped the opening session of the weekend with a lap of 2m05.0233s which, bizarrely, matched his session-leading time in Practice 1 at the 2020 Bathurst 1000, and Moffat followed up with the second-quickest lap of Practice 2, which was held for co-drivers alone.
The Boost Mobile Ford Mustang of James Courtney and Thomas Randle (No. 44 Boost Mobile Ford Mustang) enjoyed a positive Thursday as well, with Courtney posting the fourth-quickest lap of Practice 1, and Randle ending the co-driver session 12th overall.
Jack Le Brocq (No. 5 Truck Assist Ford Mustang) cited a car imbalance in Practice 1 where he placed 18th, but the Truck Assist Mustang was closer to the mark in the afternoon when co-driver Zak Best finished Practice 2 in eighth, building confidence in the Car 5 camp.
The Bathurst 1000 continues on Friday with Practice 3 at 10:40 a.m. AEDT and Practice 4 at 1:30 p.m., followed by group qualifying at 4:35 p.m.
DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Truck Assist Ford Mustang
Jack Le Brocq
Practice 1: 2m06.08s, 18th
Practice 2 (Best): 2m06.33s, 8th
“Today was okay, obviously I just ran in one practice so it was a pretty cruisy day, we just worked on the car through the session and chipped away at it. Unfortunately at the end I wasn’t too comfortable with the car on the green tyre so the lap time didn’t look too great, but it’s early days. We’re a good chunk better than where the times say we’re at, and Zak showed a bit of that in the second practice today, he was really solid. We’ll work on it more tonight, but I think we’re in a pretty reasonable spot to start the weekend.”
Zak Best
“It was good to get back behind the wheel of the Mustang this afternoon. I feel like I’m getting more comfortable every lap so it’s just good to get seat time here. I’m feeling pretty good in the car and I’m getting along with Jack and the boys, so it’s been really enjoyable so far. I’ll just look to keep doing my part and helping out the team, and hopefully we can keep moving forward tomorrow.”
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
Practice 1: 2m05.02s, 1st
Practice 2 (Moffat): 2m05.60s, 2nd
“It was a pretty busy first session for us, when we rolled out the car wasn’t actually that great, but we stuck with our plan and worked through our program, and by the end of the session the car was feeling pretty good. The car’s mostly doing what we need it to which is good, but it’s early in the weekend so we’ll keep trying to make it a bit nicer for tomorrow and try to keep this pace.”
James Moffat
“It’s a good start, I felt pretty good in the car once I got up to speed and then we just worked on the car a bit. Obviously it was pretty nice to see the time at the end of the session, so I think we’re in a reasonably good spot with the car. Cam and I are getting on well and I think we have a car that can be in the mix so we’ll keep working at it and see if we can tune it up a bit more for tomorrow.”
No. 44 Boost Mobile Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Practice 1: 2m05.37s, 4th
Practice 2 (Randle): 2m06.48s, 12th
“I think we had a solid day, a decent start to the weekend. First practice was just about working through our checklist and we learnt quite a bit through trying a lot of different things. We worked on it a bit and I think we got a good idea of the car by the end of the session, it’s just practice so there’s only so much to take from it, but to come out P4 is nice. We have a good starting point, so we’ll tune it up tonight and come back tomorrow for another crack.”
Thomas Randle
“My session was pretty good, I think, it’s great to get back in the Boost Mobile Mustang with JC and the crew. We worked on a few things with the car and tested and tuned a bit which was good, we just got caught out by the red flag at the end and didn’t get a lap in on fresh tyres, so we should have more in it and be closer to the front tomorrow.”
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“As we all know, it’s only practice, but we’re fairly happy with the day. All of our cars worked through quite a bit so to come out of the day with some good results on the timing sheets is a good start. It starts to matter a bit more tomorrow so we’ll keep working on it overnight and see what tomorrow brings for us.”
DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES
After two practice sessions on Wednesday, the Dunlop Super2 Series held just two qualifying sessions on Thursday, setting the grid for Races 9 and 10 on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Both qualifying sessions were disrupted by multiple red flags, causing a relatively mixed grid across the field. After qualifying fourth and sixth for Races 9 and 10, Zak Best (No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X) was somewhat disappointed in the day’s results, but is confident in his car ahead of the weekend’s races.
No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X
Zak Best
Race 9 Quali: 2m06.83s, 4th
Race 10 Quali: 2m08.17s, 6th
“We were feeling pretty good after yesterday, I don’t think we had really shown the best of our car and our times were pretty competitive, so I was looking forward to quali today, but the red flags hurt us a bit. It was tough to get a rhythm going and in the second session only a few of us even did a lap so it’s pretty frustrating, but we’re near the front which is nice. I think our car’s pretty good, so we’ll come back tomorrow and look to have a strong race.”
Ends.
