Tickford stands tall after 'biggest change we've ever seen'

A busy off-season of driver, team and car changes didn't involve Tickford Racing, and the Ford team feels it its reaping the rewards of continuity.

Heading into 2026, of 24 cars, 15 underwent a form of significant change, something five-time Supercars champion Mark Skaife claimed as the "biggest change we've ever seen."

Amid new ownership, Tickford arrived in 2026 with the same drivers and engineers as the previous season. Through two rounds, Cam Waters is just 28 points from the championship lead, while Tickford leads the teams' points.

Tickford signed Waters and Thomas Randle through 2027, ensuring the team has stability on the driver and team front. In contrast, arch-rivals Triple Eight and Walkinshaw TWG Racing changed manufacturers.

The biggest change for Tickford was moving Waters into a different chassis, ahead of the debut of a new car later this season.

It all points Tickford towards being "in a very good place" in the early part of the season, says Team Manager Matt Roberts.

"It’s absolutely key to have continuity within the team. It goes a long way," Roberts told Supercars.com.

"The teams that have had break-ups and changes, you can see it’s affecting them. You can't beat consistency, and continuity with the guys that we've had for the last couple years.

"To have locked both Cam and Tom away for the next couple of years is great for us. It also offers good stability with our workforce and sponsors. We’re in a very good place."

Waters has been Mr Consistent through two rounds. He has finished no better than third, yet finished no worse than sixth. Waters finished on the podium in Sydney and Melbourne despite starting 20th and eighth, and has gained a whopping 39 positions in seven races.

Randle, meanwhile, turned a Melbourne Saturday crash into a Sunday podium, shoring up Tickford's points lead after closest rivals Triple Eight Penrite Racing hit trouble.

"We're still building, so to be sitting at the top of the teams through consistency is great," Roberts said.

"Qualifying pace hasn't been on our side, but we know what areas we need to focus on. The guys have been pretty busy post Grand Prix. We’re going into the middle part and the latter part of the season very confident.

“Our expectation is to strike in the latter part of the year, and middle part especially. We're not too fussed at this point of year. We would’ve liked a quicker qualifying car, but race pace has been great."

Tickford's quiet start to 2026 is a far cry to 2025, when Waters burst out of the blocks with three wins from as many poles at Round 1. With pressure and expectation rising, Tickford didn't win again.

This time, Tickford holds the cards in both championships, yet in an ominous warning for their rivals, haven't fired a shot yet.

"We're happy to keep flying under the radar," Roberts continued.

"We don't need to be beating anyone's chest just yet, we'll just let others do that. We’ll just quietly go about our thing and maximise our results over the weekend.

“It just proves consistency is the key at the moment at this point of the year. We're focusing on being top five, top three every race, every session. We aren't looking at others, we're sticking to our guns.”

Tickford resumes its 2026 campaign at the ITM Taupō Super 440 on April 10-12. Tickets are on sale now.

Key changes on the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship grid

Drivers

Teams