Randle pays tribute to outgoing Edwards

Tim Edwards leaving Tickford at the end of the season
Edwards joined the Ford team in 2005, has overseen 80 wins
Former Jordan F1 boss kickstarted careers of Waters, Randle among others

Thomas Randle has penned a tribute to outgoing Tickford Racing boss Tim Edwards, who will leave the Ford team at the end of the 2023 season.

Tickford confirmed this week that Edwards will leave his CEO and Team Principal roles at the end of the current Supercars season.

It ends a long tenure at the helm for Edwards, who joined the team in 2005 after a stint in Formula One.

Edwards has overseen 80 of the Ford team’s 81 wins in Supercars, highlighted by Bathurst victories in 2013 and 2014, and a drivers’ championship in 2015.

Critically, Edwards has also been a key figure in giving several drivers their big break in Supercars, such as Mark Winterbottom, Cam Waters and Randle.

Edwards signed Winterbottom in 2006, with the driver going on to win 38 races and a championship with the team over a 13-year span.

Waters was also signed to the team’s Super2 squad in 2014 and won the title in 2015, before debuting full-time in the main game in 2016. In recent years, Waters has firmed as Ford’s star driver.

Drivers that have come through Tickford’s development series program and have made names in the main game include Chaz Mostert, Broc Feeney, James Moffat, Jack Le Brocq and Richie Stanaway.

It was with Tickford where Randle’s Supercars journey started in 2018, with the Victorian making his main game debut for the team in 2019 in a wildcard and alongside Lee Holdsworth in the enduros.

Randle was plucked from a budding open wheel stint, and finished third in 2019 before winning the title with MW Motorsport in a COVID-shortened season in 2020.

Tickford committed to a wildcard program for Randle in 2021 before signing him full-time in 2022, with the 27-year-old scoring his first solo podiums at the OTR SuperSprint this year.

"Thank you Tim for your commitment to Tickford Racing spanning nearly two decades,” Randle posted to social media.

"Thank you for also giving me my start in Super2 and also the opportunity to step up to the main series full time.

"It’s been a great journey and hopefully we can round out the year with some more strong results.”

Winterbottom, who claimed Tickford’s first Bathurst win in 2013, told V8 Sleuth: "I worked with him for 13 years, he had a lot of success and has been there a really long time.

“He has been a leader for a long time, good to work with, and we shared a lot of success together. Good memories.”

Edwards’ final three rounds in charge of Tickford will be the Repco Bathurst 1000, Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 and VAILO Adelaide 500.