Tickford Racing chasing answers to Bathurst 1000 mystery
Thomas Randle/Reuben Goodall ninth, Cam Waters/Mark Winterbottom 15th
Waters sixth for Gold Coast, Tickford back to third in teams' points
Tickford Racing's drivers and crew "didn't put a foot wrong" in the Great Race.
Problem was, the speed just wasn't there — not only on race day, but in the lead-up, too.
The Thomas Randle/Reuben Goodall Castrol Ford clawed back to ninth from 13th, while the fancied Cam Waters/Mark Winterbottom Monster Mustang was 15th.
The head-scratchers were there from the outset, and qualifying 13th and 14th put the team on the back foot.
Remarkably, the Waters/Winterbottom car ran no higher than seventh all race, and that was during the pit cycle on lap 69. In the same cycle, the Randle/Goodall Ford ran as high as sixth.
Tickford Director of Motorsport Nash was proud of the clean race day effort, but admitted the team simply didn't have the pace to make an impact on the race.
"On the positive side, the crew including the drivers, didn’t put a foot wrong. The strategy was applied correctly, no muck-ups in the pits, and the fuelling was right,” Nash said.
"But that isn’t what wins Bathurst. We’ve been fighting all year to find the final little bit of speed, and with zero Safety Cars it was really a sprint race. We weren’t worried that we qualified 13th and 14th, because you can win from there, but we didn’t have the speed.
"At the same time, we were still in there with the No. 55 car and Reuben Goodall did a great job as a rookie and he and Thomas Randle got a top 10 finish."
The weekend wasn't without incident, though, with Winterbottom hit by James Courtney's Team 18 Chevrolet in a Saturday practice mix-up.
A double disaster for Walkinshaw TWG Racing helped Tickford move back to third in the teams' championship, but the questions over Bathurst speed — or lack thereof — remain front of mind heading to the Gold Coast.
Randle fell short of a Finals spot, while Waters dropped from fourth to sixth across the enduros.
"Quite a disappointing outcome and we’re going away to really drill into finding what is missing," Nash continued.
"It’s not doom and gloom, but we know we’re better than the results show and we intend to find the missing speed.”
Waters is seeded sixth for the Finals opener, the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, on October 23-25.
