Randle opens up on first encounter with 'misunderstood' Ryan

For 14 weeks a year, Barry Ryan does everything he can to try and beat Thomas Randle. The same applies the other way around.

However, this weekend, both parties will be aiming to help each other win.

As part of an all-star Supercars line-up with Cam Waters and Chaz Mostert, both men will take on some of the world’s most esteemed sportscar aces in the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.

The #222 Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Waters/Mostert/Randle is being managed by Ryan, making for something of a melting pot between three Supercars teams; Tickford Racing, Walkinshaw TWG Racing, and Erebus Motorsport.

However, it's not a case of three different Supercars teams coming together. Instead it's a case of Australia versus the world.

22 countries will represented on the grid this weekend, and of the 15 cars entered in the outright Pro class, the Scott Taylor Motorsport Mercedes is the one of two to have an all-Australian driver roster, the other being the Grove Racing entry of Brenton Grove/Kai Allen/Will Davison.

The relationship between drivers and team manager began to develop in earnest at a two-day test in Sydney just over a week ago, however any potential differences were quickly put to one side, with one common goal in mind.

“Obviously we’re not there for anything Supercars related, but we're just we're just there to work together and try and extract the maximum amount of whether it's myself or the other other boys, or out of the car," Randle told Supercars.com in the lead up to the 12 Hour.

“We’ve got a common goal of doing the best job we can, and he was great, I really enjoyed working with him over the two days at SMP. We had some good banter as well.

“I mean, Barry I'm sure you could say is a misunderstood character of in the lane. If you just read everything online, it's different to what you see in person when you're working with him.

“I’m looking forward to having a part of the team for the 12 Hour, and Scott Taylor’s motto is that we want to have an all Australian line-up, and that's not just the drivers, that's in terms of the crew as well.

“He wants to take on the world’s best with some of Australia's best talent, whether that be us or the guys running the car.

“It would be really cool to take them on, and hopefully all the more reason for the fans to get behind us being a full Aussie car.”

This marks Randle's third straight attempt at the 12 Hour with STM, having paired up with Waters and seven-time Bathurst 1000 winner Craig Lowndes in 2024 and 2025.

However, Lowndes has been replaced by Mostert this year, with the Walkinshaw TWG Racing star arguably in the form of his life having secured his maiden Supercars title last year, and finishing second in the GTD Pro class at the recent Rolex 24 at Daytona.

"To team up again with Cam's great, it's been really cool the last couple years obviously last year was was a pretty short run on Sunday but to have the addition of Chaz is something pretty cool," Randle said.

"He's obviously the current Supercars champion and he goes pretty handy in those GT3 cars, and he's fresh off the plane from from finishing the second at the Daytona 24 Hour in America as well so, that's gonna bode really well for us and I'm looking forward to sharing a car with those guys.

"It's a little bit of a reunion from 2019 when we were all in the same team so it's gonna be a lot of fun.

"We obviously would love to get the win for Scotty, he's put so much into this race, and then obviously the addition to that is that we've got Barry Ryan overseeing everything as well.

"We had a two day test, and that was my first time properly working with Barry and I really enjoyed the experience. He's been really great to work with and he's just a racer. He wants it, and I really enjoyed it."

The #222 Mercedes was strong in today's two all-in practice sessions, finishing second in Practice 1, and fifth in Practice 3, which was topped by Will Brown's #55 Audi.