Phil Munday’s Milwaukee team to run out of Tickford Racing workshop as customer next year …
STORY: V8 SLEUTH
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PHIL Munday’s 23Red Racing has finalised its agreement with Tickford Racing to become a customer entry run by the former works Ford team in next year’s Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.
The team’s #230 Ford Mustang will be run alongside the three Tickford Racing entries, a development of the existing technical alliance between 23Red and Tickford Racing from this season.
Two-time Bathurst 1000 winner Will Davison will remain at the wheel of the team’s entry, making something of a return to Tickford’s Campbellfield (Melbourne) workshop given he drove full-time for the team (when it was known as Ford Performance Racing) from 2011 to 2013.
“As a new team owner, I came into this sport to strive for continuous improvement and establish 23Red Racing in the series,” Munday said.
“But being a single-car team it is extremely challenging to achieve top results. With this in mind, I have decided to join forces with Tickford Racing as a customer to ensure we can continue to grow and achieve higher success.
“Milwaukee and 23Red Racing will still continue to operate as its own entity. By joining forces with Tickford, we are able to ensure the brand’s success and longevity in 2019 and beyond. We look forward to our new partnership with Tickford Racing and next year’s Ford Mustang.”
The deal is the latest in a long line of Tickford Racing customer programs in the Supercars Championship.
The team – as FPR – ran the Team Kiwi Racing entry in the first half of 2007 and the late Jim Morton’s Ford Rising Stars Falcon entry in 2008.
The squad later added now-Tickford Racing co-owner Rod Nash’s #55 entry in 2010 and has also run cars for Charlie Schwerkolt (2013-2014) and Super Black Racing.
“We’re excited to have 23Red Milwaukee Racing join Tickford Racing from 2019,” said Nash, whose history with former sponsor Munday dates back to his own Supercars driving career in the late 1990s.
“We’ve built a strong relationship with them over the past year, and we expect to continue to build on that as we bring our teams together.
“Phil brings a great energy to the team. He and I have known each other for over 20 years, and he’s been a great supporter of the RNR (Rod Nash Racing) entry over the years. We think his involvement will help us get back to the success we’re accustomed to having and we look forward to achieving that success together.”
“Having Will back is great for all of us,” Nash added.
“He’s obviously done some great things in our cars in the past and has shown when given a strong car he can still compete. We look forward to giving him the opportunity to have more success in our garage from 2019.”
