TICKFORD Racing fully expects its #56 Tradie Mustang will be repaired in time for Practice 5 tomorrow morning at Mount Panorama.
Declan Fraser crashed heavily at Reid Park during qualifying for the Repco Bathurst 1000 this afternoon, sparking fears that the car might be ruled out of the remainder of the weekend.
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However, external panel damage was minimal and Tickford CEO Tim Edwards has now confirmed the diagnosis underneath is better than expected too.
“It’s as good as can be,” Edwards told V8 Sleuth.
“It doesn’t look like there’s any chassis damage so that’s an absolute plus.
“I think we were fortunate the way he’s hit so square-on and it’s literally collapsed all the suspension, and all the suspension has failed and saved the chassis.
“Quite often it will pull it or push it in the wrong direction and that’s when you pluck mounts out, but hitting it square-on looks like the way you’ve got to crash.
“We’re all pleasantly surprised about the lack of damage.
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“As I say, it must be hitting it dead square-on has absorbed it, rather than hitting it on a 45 or 30-degree or whatever angle. And it appeared to hit front and rear wheel simultaneously as well so I think collectively it has all absorbed the impact quite well.”
The red flag is out AGAIN!
— Supercars (@supercars) October 6, 2023
Declan Fraser smacks into the wall at Reid Park.
Follow every moment LIVE in RaceHQ: https://t.co/dwVWgm3juW #RepcoSC #Supercars #Bathurst1000 pic.twitter.com/GhVyoQbKcf
Supercars Championship action at the Mountain resumes tomorrow at 10am AEDT with a co-driver session. Fraser is paired up with fellow Super2 race winner Tyler Everingham.
“I’m confident it will be back on four wheels tonight (or early) tomorrow morning,” Edwards added.
“He’ll be a little sore tomorrow. I’m not sure how many Gs it was but he was definitely winded when he spoke to us on the radio.
“Brad our physio will give him a good workout tonight and hopefully he gets a good night’s sleep. She’s a long race on Sunday.”
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Despite Tickford’s Cam Waters being one of six Mustang drivers to make the Top 10 Shootout, Edwards remains pessimistic about the Blue Oval’s chances across 161 laps.
“One-lap speed hasn’t been our issue,” he said.
“Straight-line speed is certainly going to be an issue based on the stuff we’ve been looking at where we’re really going to struggle and no different to any other race this year, when we start to lose the rear tyres, it makes our day a bit harder.
“So anyway, we’re concerned about it but there’s nothing we can do about it so we’ll just put our head down and focus on what we’re doing.”
