Thomas Randle lucky to survive wild "tank slapper"
Randle slid across grass in opening seconds of Race 24 in Perth
Tickford Racing driver continues to close gap to Finals
Thomas Randle delivered one of the saves of the season in Perth on Saturday — and given his precarious points position, he needed it.
The Tickford Racing driver was boxed in from a rapid start from fourth in Saturday’s second race, and duelled Kai Allen through the opening corners.
Contact over the rise at Turn 3 sent Randle onto the grass through Turn 4, and the Victorian was forced to catch his out of control Castrol Ford. Where others may have spun or collected other cars, Randle regathered and marched on, before falling back to 10th.
Speaking after the race, Randle revealed the incident damaged his right front tyre, which he had to nurse until his lap 21 stop.
"That was a big old tank slapper, somehow didn't go off the track,” Randle said in a team video.
“Had a really good start, but kinda got boxed in, couldn't do much about it. Then I was side by side with Kai and yeah, we made contact at [Turn] 3.
“Then it got sideways and then went on the grass and somehow didn't go off the track. But yeah, damaged that right front tyre and sort of nursed that for the whole first stint, which was pretty costly.
“We sort of had to pit early because of it. But yeah, even the second stint probably not strong enough.”
Randle slashed his deficit to Finals from 230 to 156 points in Townsville, and gained another 15 points on Saturday.
The 30-year-old admitted he wanted more given he started both races from inside the top four.
“Two top 10s. Top fives would've been nice after where we qualified, third and fourth,” Randle said.
“We'll just try and work on the race car tomorrow. I think we've got a pretty good quali car, so back on the Soft tyre tomorrow. Longer race, refueling stops.
“Let's try and get these Tickford cars back up the front again."
Sunday Supercars action begins with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 11:00am local time/1:00pm AEST.
