Tickford and DJR talk Bathurst battles
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 27 February 2024
Ford heavyweights Tickford and Dick Johnson Racing both suffered battles at differing stages of the season-opening Bathurst 500.
Although Thomas Randle ended the round on a high finishing race 2 fourth behind a top three that dominated all weekend, it was a frustrating start for Tickford spearhead Cameron Waters.
Bad luck surrounded Waters on the Saturday, having qualified a disappointing 20th, despite being on track to securing a possible Shootout berth, only for the lap to be disrupted by Matt Payne going off.
The day then went from bad to worse as the Monster Mustang damaged from a first lap incident trundled towards the back in the opening race.
Waters stopped on lap 33 and when he arrived at Griffins Bend, the spindle broke, sending the front left wheel to go on a joyride in the wrong direction through turn 2.
The 11-time race winner hoped to bounce back on Sunday, but the pace never arrived at Bathurst.
Waters could only qualify 18th and finish 16th in another tough race and as a result he starts his title pursuit down in 20th in the standings.
Tickford owner Rod Nash revealed Waters struggled for support from the rear end of his Mustang in the final race.
Cameron Waters limps to the pits after the tyre went walkabout. Images: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography
“It was a challenging weekend for us. We had mixed results but there were signs of pace so we’ve got to charge on,” he said.
“Thomas Randle did really well in the second race to take fourth, and the three in front of him at the flag were all pretty strong.
“Cam Waters was fighting with a lack of rear-end grip over the whole weekend. We just couldn’t get the car right for him so the objective was just to finish.”
Another famous Ford team that failed to meet expectations at Bathurst was Dick Johnson Racing.
For the second year in a row the team emerges from the season opener in a lowly 10th in the championship.
Although Anton De Pasquale made both Top 10 Shootouts, he fell away during the races and could only manage P21 and P15 finishes.
Will Davison had better race pace, climbing from 21st to 16th on Saturday and holding onto 10th after starting eighth.
But the returning team principal Ryan Story was a disappointed figure after Mount Panorama, highlighting a lack of race pace from cars #11 and #17.
“Not much to say this weekend,” Story said.
“There is obviously plenty of room for improvement because we’re not where we want, and need, to be.
“We seem to have reasonable one-lap pace but there is still a lot to learn about how we manage a race over the stints.
“We did a huge amount of work in the off-season and it’s good to be racing, but there is still a huge amount of work still to be done.”
There is also lots more loaded into a bumper edition of AUTO ACTION magazine, on sale at newsagents and available digitally here. For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.
Latest Podcast: Gentlemen Start your Engines – It’s Supercar Season on the Auto Action RevLimiter!
This is it folks, there’s no more posturing and no more of the who did what to whom talk, this weekend Supercars gets to fight fair in the opening round of the season at the Bathurst 500. Who can win, who will win, we dissect the season and tell you what we think on the latest podcast.
Listen to our latest episode on your podcast app of choice or here
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