'I saw his diffuser': Randle recounts wild Golding incident
Thomas Randle was ruled out of contention in dramatic fashion on lap 1
Randle caught up in lap 1 incident with teammate Cam Waters, James Golding
Golding careened into Randle's car, wiping both out of contention
Thomas Randle had arguably the most dramatic seat in the house in Saturday's NTI Townsville 500, with the Tickford Racing driver taken out of contention in a wild incident on lap 1.
Starting 15th and 21st, Randle and Tickford Racing teammate Cam Waters were implicated in a crazy pile-up through Turn 3 on Saturday, with James Golding (starting 23rd) coming off worst of all.
A collision between Waters and Brad Jones Racing's Jaxon Evans sent the former into a spin in front of the field, with Randle and Golding taking evasive action.
As Randle hit the brakes, Golding careened into the Castrol Ford. The impact lifted the PremiAir Chevrolet off the ground and into the wall, with Randle also sustaining damage.
While Golding was out on the spot, Randle returned to pit lane, but his Mustang has sustained a damaged shock absorber. Consigned to the garage, Randle dropped five laps and finished 21st.
"Oh man, what a tough day. Big shame, really," Randle said on the broadcast.
"I feel like I let down Castrol and all our supporters, we should be a lot stronger than that, but what do you do?
"It was just a bit awkward, kind of in the middle of Jaxon rejoining and Cam was there. What do you do? Obviously ruined both our races, Cam and mine.
"We've got to qualify higher. That's sort of the start of it. We were so strong a practice and been so strong on a used tyre, but the green tyre has just been tough.
"We have bit work to do. Just tired to use it the worst rubber possible for the rest of the race. So fingers crossed that puts us in a good position tomorrow."
Randle dropped behind Anton De Pasquale and Andre Heimgartner in the standings, and is now just 51 points ahead of 11th placed Ryan Wood. Golding is now 16th, with PremiAir assessing the damage to the #31 chassis.
The impact left tyre marks on the front and rear of Randle's car, with the impact cracking the driver side window and leaving a significant dent in the right rear quarter.
When asked how much he saw of Golding's car, Randle said: "I saw his diffuser and his rear wheel land... there's a tyre mark on the windscreen.
"Yeah, it was pretty scary, but I'm glad we're both okay... it broke the front left damper, but the fact that we'd finished, albeit five laps down with the way the car is, I'm just real sorry for the whole crew.
"They're gonna have a big night tonight fixing that up."
Supercars action resumes on Saturday with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 10:05am AEST, followed by the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:05pm. The final race of the weekend, Race 22, commences at 3:00pm.
Foxtel/Kayo's Saturday coverage commences at 8:00am AEST, with the Seven Network taking live coverage from 12:00pm. Please check local guides.
