How firm Frosty is firing up Tickford young guns

Tickford Autosport have upped the ante in 2025, and with an expanded wildcard program set to begin next weekend in Perth, they don't look like slowing down any time soon.

The team now run four cars in the Dunlop Super2 Series, will begin a four-round Supercars wildcard program, and have brought 2015 Supercars champion Mark Winterbottom back into the fold in an advisory role.

The benefits have proven immediate, with Tickford becoming the first team in development series history to lockout a round podium last time out in Tasmania, with Rylan Gray, Nash Morris, and Reuben Goodall also the top three in the points standings.

18-year-old Gray will make his Supercars debut in Darwin in the wildcard Gen3 Mustang, whilst the team's fourth driver Lochie Dalton will make his second round start next weekend at Wanneroo.

The pair will also combine for the two Enduro Cup races at The Bend and Bathurst, where will they compete against their mentor, who will combine with Cam Waters in the Monster Mustang.

Currently 11th in the Super2 standings after getting caught up in an incident on home soil in Tasmania, Dalton says that the addition of the 2013 Bathurst winner to the team has been invaluable.

“Everything he says, he's pretty black and white. There's no fluff around it. He’s awesome to have,” Dalton told Supercars.com.

"He's got so many years of experience, so he knows everything we're about to experience. Frosty’s massive. Hopefully having him can get us a bit more performance.”

Although he acknowledges the task at hand for both himself and Gray is a tough one, 23-year-old Dalton is confident that both drivers can be competitive in the #5 Mustang.

"I think he'd want us to give it a crack,” Dalton said.

"I mean, we’re there to race. We're not there to just putt around. We definitely want to be up there and be as competitive as we can be.

“It's really hard now for Rylan and I. These cars are so different to our Super2 cars, and these guys in main game are so on top of these cars now.

"Like, you can see someone has a good weekend, and then they're at the rear the next weekend. It's just so hard. So, you’ve gotta be realistic coming into it. But yeah, we definitely want to be up there and having a crack.”

Dalton's teammates agree that the Frosty factor has pushed the team forward, Morris saying in Tasmania: "He's really helpful, it's not so much the driving stuff, he doesn't really annoy you with that, but it's all the other stuff at the track that he's really good with.

"How you present yourself, not being down on the little things, and just focusing forward, it's amazing having him in our corner."

Gray added: "It's good to have him back, he's like a Dad now but he's still like 12 years old, so you can have a joke with him. He's been super good for us to have someone to learn off, and a bit of a mentor for us, so it's been great, we've been learning heaps.

"Like Nash said, it's not everything in the car, it's also about out of the car and all of the mental game as well, so pretty pumped to have him back."

Goodall said: "He's great with the data, he's great with everything like that we know, he's a champion, he's won Bathurst.

"He shows what it takes to be a professional athlete, or a professional driver behind the scenes as well, the mental game, the commercial stuff, so a massive asset to the team."

The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship continues at the Bosch Power Tools Perth Super 440 from June 6-8, whilst the Dunlop Super2 Series continues at the NTI Townsville 500 from July 11-13.