Tickford owner makes Taupō vow after AGP wobbles
Tickford owner makes Taupō vow after Grand Prix wobbles
Cam Waters ceded championship lead to Will Brown in Melbourne
Waters claimed maiden pole in Taupō last April
Tickford Racing owner Rod Nash insists the erstwhile championship leaders are "not throwing the towel in" after its Melbourne rollercoaster, instead shifting attention to the team's 2024 Taupō performance.
Tickford left Round 1 in Sydney with both championship leads, with Cam Waters winning all three races from pole position. Three weeks later, the team was left scratching its head in Melbourne.
At Albert Park, Waters' weekend qualifying average was a poor 13.0, and Thomas Randle's 16.0. Errors aside, neither Waters or Randle were able to throw a punch at the leading Camaros.
Waters and Randle gained a whopping 16 and 13 positions in the first race, with Waters limiting the damage with a trio of top 10s to leave Albert Park just seven points behind new leader Will Brown.
Nash wasn't deterred, however, saying: "We don’t always need to look like rock stars. I’m happy for us to fly under the radar a bit, for the moment.
"We don’t have the edge we want for qualifying, but we showed what both cars could do in the races, which was great to entertain the fans.
"It was good for Cam to bag another bunch of points, although Tom Randle didn’t have the weekend he wanted."
Additionally, Nash cited the team's 2024 Taupō performance, where Waters claimed pole by over half a second for the first race, only to get knocked out of the lead: "We’re not throwing the towel in. We’re still strong... we were strong at Taupō last year so we’re ready to go again in New Zealand."
Tickford's hero-to-zero run caught the attention of Matt Stone Racing, which itself went from zero-to-hero in Melbourne.
While impressed by Waters' ability to salvage solid results, 2007 Supercars champion Garth Tander was wary of Tickford's drop-off, suggesting the team needs to get a handle on its inconsistency, or risk watching 2025 drift away.
"When we concluded Sydney Motorsport Park, we posed the question, can Cam Waters and Tickford continue this vein of form? It looked so ominous, that it did look like they would go on," Tander said on the broadcast.
"They could not have had a more up and down weekend at Albert Park. They really need to go back and understand what happened, why all the speed came in the races, but it wasn't there qualifying.
"Really a deep dive and understand that so they don't go through weekends of ups and downs like this. We know that Red Bull Ampol Racing, Will Brown and Broc Feeney, are always going to be in the hunt.
"He wasn't spectacular this weekend, Will Brown, but he scored the most points. Waters was spectacular, he passed a lot of cars, but he lost the championship lead because he didn't have the speed he needed in qualifying.
"Tickford need to find that consistency, traditionally that's been their problem. When they're up, they're great. When they're down, they're spectacularly down."
Supercars action will commence in New Zealand on Friday April 11. Tickets are on sale now.
