TICKFORD Racing enters Race 4 of the Melbourne SuperSprint today a measly ninth in the teams’ championship and a long way off the lofty heights that seemed on the cards mere weeks ago.
Having downsized to two cars and injected fresh leadership, Tickford and its star driver Cam Waters were tipped as genuine title contenders.
That has not panned out thus far, with illness and other factors holding Waters back last month at Bathurst and an incident-filled run to date at Albert Park.
The #6 Monster Mustang was in the hunt for victory yesterday until coming together with Matt Payne at the end of Lap 2, resulting in significant damage that necessitated a rebuild that only was completed at 2:30am.
“It’s just one of those things that happens in car racing and unfortunately we were on the rough end of it,” Tickford CEO Simon Brookhouse calmly told V8 Sleuth.
Speaking further to how high hopes have been contrasted against heartbreaking results in the early stages of 2024, Brookhouse added: “You go out there wanting to win every race and that’s what we’re here to do, but the reality of it is we all have to deal with setbacks.
“We’ll get back out there and Cam starts from third on the grid and we’ll try to win.
“The reality of it is it’s a long season and there’s a lot of racing to be done. We have seen this weekend that the Fords have improved.
“The boys are great, they’ll bounce back.
“I think one thing that’s really important is these sort of situations actually create a really foundation for how good your team is: how you bounce back from adversity.”
It’s been an especially ragged weekend for #55 Castrol Mustang driver Thomas Randle, who has accrued just 56 points across the opening three races of the round – the lowest tally of anyone.
“We’ve had a few minor things with that car and the gear shifter broke (on Saturday). He got stuck in fourth gear and just stayed out there to get the points,” Brookhouse noted.
Randle will start 12th in this morning’s race, which is scheduled for 10:25am AEDT.
