“UNLUCKY is the understatement of the day.”
That was Tim Edwards’ succinct summary of the Sandown 500 after Tickford Racing’s top contenders were bundled out of contention early in the piece.
It was a particularly bizarre incident which crippled the team’s #6 Monster Energy entry of Cam Waters and James Moffat.
Moffat was running fifth when the rear wing of his Mustang was plucked off by a stray wheel, of all things, that had come loose from Garth Tander ahead.
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That necessitated three visits to the pitlane under Safety Car conditions (sparked by Tander’s subsequent crash), as the Tickford crew impressively worked to complete repairs while avoiding going a lap down.
“Today was frustrating… Moff got hit by a loose wheel, which is a one-in-a-million thing, and Car 55 broke a serpentine belt,” said Edwards.
Indeed, the Castrol car was out of contention by Lap 51, having consistently been running inside the top 10 following Thomas Randle’s qualifying performance and Garry Jacobson’s efforts through the opening stints.
While both Waters and Randle made it to the end, Tickford’s only two finishers on the lead lap were James Courtney/Zak Best and Declan Fraser/Tyler Everingham in 12th and 13th respectively.
Even they didn’t have a clean run, Best and Fraser being spun at different points.
“To draw some positives, Tyler Everingham and Garry Jacobson did a terrific job,” said Edwards.
“To come in as co-drivers and perform like they did is great.
“We had good car speed and better tyre life than we expected, so some good things to take to Bathurst.”
The Repco Bathurst 1000 takes place across October 5-8.
V8 Sleuth’s coverage of the 2023 Penrite Oil Sandown 500 is proudly presented by Biante – Fuel your passion with winning model cars. Visit Biante here to check out their range of model cars in a range of scales from 1:64 to 1:10.
