'A good pull apart': Tickford to look from within as 2025 slips away

Tickford Racing co-owner Rod Nash has vowed that his squad will rebuild for 2026 after a disappointing conclusion to their 2025 Repco Supercars Championship.

Although both Cam Waters and Thomas Randle made it to the Semi Final at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, the duo were both knocked out, and didn't threaten the podium over the course of the bp Adelaide Grand Final.

After Waters torched the field with a clean sweep of the opening round in Sydney, Tickford didn't trouble the top step of the podium for the rest of the season, with Waters claiming a further six podiums, and Randle just two all season.

Waters in particular had major struggles in qualifying trim over Saturday and Sunday, qualifying 21st and 22nd respectively, being out-qualified by wildcard teammate Austin Cindric on Sunday.

Randle, meanwhile, aquaplaned heavily into the Turn 8 wall on Friday, registering a 54G hit, though his Mustang was repaired in time for Saturday running.

Tickford's highlight of the weekend came in the Dunlop Super2 Series, where 19-year-old Rylan Gray claimed the series with a race to spare with a dominant performance in Race 1 on Saturday.

Gray led home teammates Lochie Dalton, Nash Morris, and Reuben Goodall in the Super2 standings, the first time any team has swept 1-2-3-4 in any tier of Supercars competition.

With both Waters and Randle locked until at least 2027, Gray heads to Dick Johnson Racing next year, whilst Dalton, who wrapped up the Boost Mobile Pole Award for Super2, heads to Erebus as an Enduro Cup co-driver.

Reflecting post-event, Nash said that it wasn't panic stations for the team, despite slipping to fourth in the final teams' standings behind Walkinshaw Andretti United.

“We came to Adelaide pretty positive, but the gods were just against us. Cam Waters had two shocker qualifying sessions, for no real reason, although Tom Randle was solid," Nash said in a Ford release.

“They both raced hard, and were in the top 10, so it was not a disaster. But we wanted more. Still, it was good to clean up in the Super2 Series.

“We’ll have a good pull apart of the organisation and see what we can find when we turn over some stones. We’ll come back for a big year in 2026."

Nash also paid tribute to his former star Chaz Mostert, who broke through for his maiden Repco Supercars Championship win at the bp Adelaide Grand Final, whilst also praising the efforts of Penrite Racing for their Bathurst win with Matt Payne and Garth Tander.

“It was great to see the Ford Mustang win Bathurst and the championship," Nash continued.

"We had a tough start three years ago so it was good to see Ford getting some success with the Gen3 car. And Chaz Mostert was one of our guys, so it was good to see him win a championship at last.”

Tickford will commence its 2026 campaign in Sydney on February 20-22.