Tickford admits need for 'rethink' amid winless run
Tickford winless since Cam Waters won all three races in Sydney
Waters fourth, Thomas Randle seventh in championship standings
Penrite Racing 25 points behind Tickford heading to Townsville
Tickford Racing needs an “internal rethink” to convert speed into results, says team owner Rod Nash.
Cam Waters burst out of the blocks in 2025, winning all three races from pole position at the opening round in Sydney.
While the team has been winless since then, Waters and Thomas Randle have been regular features of the podium, the latter also taking a pole in Tasmania.
However, certain hurdles have hindered the Ford squad — both cars struggled for one-lap pace in Melbourne, strategy delayed Waters in the Taupō and Tasmania Sunday races, and Randle was spun by David Reynolds in Tasmania.
Waters claimed a podium in the opening Darwin race, but an error in the pits led to a loose wheel in the finale, dropping him to 24th and last.
Since Sydney, Waters has an average race finish of 7.9, and Randle 9.8. Crucially, Waters is ranked 15th in the last four big-points Sunday races, highlighting where points have evaporated.
“Let’s just say it was a challenging weekend for the team, but it’s not doom and gloom. We are up there on speed and need an internal re-think to get results,” Nash said in a Ford Performance release.
“We had a bad pit stop on Saturday, threw everything at it for Sunday and did even worse. No-one is doing anything directly wrong but Gen3 is challenging.
“We’ve got to go back to HQ, wipe the tears off the table, and drill into where we’re not quite getting it right. We’ve been chasing rear grip in the car, which sounds big but is a relatively small thing to get right.”
Heading to Townsville, where Waters won last season, Tickford is just 25 points ahead of Penrite Racing, which had both Matt Payne and Kai Allen on the podium twice in Darwin.
Nash admitted Randle — who Mark Skaife believes will go up against Ryan Wood for a Finals berth — didn’t have speed from the start of the Darwin weekend, while Waters hit obvious trouble. The Tickford boss did, however, highlight the efforts of teenager Rylan Gray, who delivered the best wildcard round result so far in 2025.
“Thomas Randle’s car was not good from the start. Cam Waters was quick but he had dramas,” Nash said.
“Rylan Gray can hold his head high with the wildcard entry. He was able to race and hold his ground and it’s great to run the wildcards to expose the youngsters to life in the main game."
Waters will make a cameo in this weekend's NASCAR Truck Series race at Lime Rock before resuming his 2025 campaign in Townsville on July 11-13. Tickets are on sale now.
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