Tickford Racing announces new majority owner

Tickford Racing has announced new ownership, with Altor Capital coming onboard the Supercars squad.

Altor Capital is Prime’s Alternative Asset Management business arm, and also has a minority stake in RACE, the ownership group of the Repco Supercars Championship.

Prime is ASX-listed, with Altor Capital known for investing in sport and their associated business activities.

It is the fourth notable sports investment for Altor Capital, which owns the NBL's Tasmania JackJumpers and Launchd, a talent agency owned by former AFL player James Begley and Sydney Swans chief executive Matthew Pavlich.

The JackJumpers were previously headed by Simon Brookhouse, who has been Tickford CEO since the start of 2024.

For Tickford, which runs two cars in Supercars and four entries in Super2, it's a major deal that will see Altor offer its strategic experience to grow the business.

Rod Nash will continue as co-owner at Tickford, while Sven Burchartz has departed. Altor has a controlling stake, while Nash also remains a shareholder.

The leadership group will remain the same, but the team introduces the new role of Director of Motorsport, which will be headed by Nash, who marked 800 races in the sport last month.

A team statement reads:

Prime Financial Group (ASX:PFG) and Tickford Racing are proud to announce the acquisition of Tickford Racing through Prime’s Alternative Asset Management business Altor Capital in a transaction set to transform Supercars and motor racing in Australia and New Zealand.

As you all may have heard over the course of this year, the business of Tickford Racing has been seeking new investment in order for the business to grow its corporate structural abilities in the business it operates in.

At Tickford we are committed to delivering on the fundamental areas of its motorsport and engineering operations.

In motorsport, the team continues to run in the Supercars Championship, the development pathway category Dunlop Series and involvement in other feeder categories in Australian motorsport.

We also remain determined on growing and promoting the 23 plus years of engineering functions. This includes areas such as design services, fabrication, manufacturing of components, extensive composite designs and manufacture using specialised materials, race car construction, engine developments, servicing both the motorsport industry as well as external specialised businesses.

It gives us great pleasure that we have now completed this process and as of today we enter into a new structure of ownership and investment with Altor Capital.

Altor Capital is an investment company investing in sport and their associated business activities. They provide strategic advice for growth businesses and have a range of markets and growth synergies that our business can be introduced into.

They take a hands on approach with offering their expertise of support which will enhance the business to unlock further growth opportunities. The Altor Capital group are also fans of sport overall and invest in likewise sporting code businesses.

2 years ago, the Executive team at Tickford Racing put in place a change for the overall leadership of the business. The move was made to bring a greater focus for the growth of the overall engineering and services of the business but also leverage the experience that we now have in a number of other sporting codes that continues to bring greatness to our competitiveness within our racing expertise.

We have achieved what we are expressing today with our new investment and growth partners that we have secured. After extensive market analysis of seeking who will bring a fresh and exciting approach to Tickford Racing, we feel that it has reached the perfect position to continually support what has been developed over the past 23 years.

We want to point out that the structure of Tickford Racing with all its valued staff will stay as you all know it. The leadership group will remain the same and we introduce the new role of Director of Motorsport which Rod will take up within the organisation. Rest assured our faces will all be the same to deal with both at the race track or within our normal liaisons we have throughout the normal course of business days.

For the Tickford Racing business, we are all excited within for what the future will bring for our business growth and expert provision of all services that we provide our partners, clients and customers we serve.

One more round to go at the iconic Adelaide street circuit with Tickford's entry of seven race cars across Supercars and Dunlop Series. In the main game with Cam & Thomas, we look to complete both their years within the top 7 of the championship and we also welcome Austin Cindric in the Wildcard entry representing the NASCAR racing code.

Additionally, a big weekend for our Dunlop Series crew as we roll out the four car squad with a team's championship locked up and one of our cars to take out the drivers championship.

We are excited to celebrate in Adelaide with you all as we cap off a massive campaign across the 2025 season and build to a bigger and better 2026.

Tickford Racing was born out of Glenn Seton Racing in 2003, and ran under the Ford Performance Racing banner between 2003 and 2014.

The initial owner was British engineering and racing team Prodrive, headed by David Richards.

In 2012, Ford bought out Prodrive's 51% stake in Ford Performance Vehicles amid a shift in the market. At the end of 2014, Prodrive sold the team to Rod Nash and Rusty French, with lawyer and racer Burchartz joining the ownership group.

The team ran under the Prodrive Racing Australia banner between 2015 and 2017, before the Tickford name returned in 2018. French sold out of the team in 2022.

Tickford will have three cars on track at the bp Adelaide Grand Final, with Cam Waters and Thomas Randle joined by NASCAR Cup Series star Austin Cindric.