Why winning Sports Sedans was special for Randle

Thomas Randle was one of the stars of the SpeedSeries at The Bend, sweeping the Precision National Sports Sedan Series round in his family-run SAAB 9-3.

Whilst on the outside it appeared as the perfect way to stay racing fit between Supercars events, racing and winning in Sports Sedans, a category and car that is close to his heart with both himself and his father Dean having plenty of history.

Randle raced the long-running SAAB 9-3, which he debuted in 2014 before finishing third in the 2015 championship.

Since then the 9-3 has made occasional one-off appearances, with its last race a Victorian State Series round in Phillip Island last year.

Thomas Randle takes the chequered flag to complete the Sports Sedans clean sweep. Image: Speed shots Photography

His father Dean went all the way and won the National Sports Sedans title himself back in 2006 in a similar SAAB and was part of the crew that worked with Thomas last weekend.

The last Randle Sports Sedan round win was five years ago and Thomas was delighted to end the drought in the 750 horsepower beast.

“It was great to just get the SAAB back on the track really,” Randle told AUTO ACTION.

“It was a great weekend out and to come away with a straight car and complete every lap without any mechanical dramas was a bonus.

“It was great to get our first national round win since 2018 at SMP when we won the Des Wall Trophy.

“This car is about 15 years old and my dad raced it as well.

“The fact this thing is still going and is still pretty competitive after all of these years is pretty cool.”

Despite being a Supercars regular, Randle said the thrill of jumping into the rapid SAAB never gets old, especially when he had to engage in some hand to hand combat with a MARC, Holden and a Mazda to win.

Thomas Randle prepares to race his SAAB. Image: John Morris

“It is always a pleasure to drive that car,” he said.

“It is such a beast and to win all three races may have looked easy on paper but it certainly was not like that.

“I had to really work for it in all three races.”
As Randle eluded to, it was no walk in the park at The Bend with a number of challenges thrown his way.

Some of the biggest were from the conditions with rain washing away key practice time on Friday, while Qualifying on Saturday and Race 2 on Sunday started so early, the sun had hardly risen.

“I cannot remember the last time I was on track so early apart from the 12 Hour which is very different,” Randle said.

“Putting those cars on track so early is pretty keen because we had to be on the track at 5.30 every morning.

“Friday was not great. We got the first practice session in but saved the Hankooks just to make sure the car ran and then the next two were washed out.

“So the first time we got on the Hankooks was in qualifying and that was pretty sketchy at 7am. “The track was damp with the sun rising on cold slicks so that made things pretty challenging.

“We learnt a lot through the weekend and the Hankook tyre held up really well.

“I think the car was capable of a 1m15flat which is pretty much bang on the pace of the GT3 cars which is pretty cool to think because it has no traction control, no ABS and is home built.”

Thomas Randle races under the rising sun. Image: John Morris

After winning the first two races, Randle had a mountain to climb in Race 3 as he slumped from first to fourth when his SAAB couldn’t get up to temperature in the rolling start.

But he put in a special comeback drive in the second half of the race with some neat moves at Turns 1-3 to overcome Geoff Taunton, Peter Ingram and Steve Tamasi and complete the clean sweep.

“We were on pole for the last two races and knew I had that RX7 (Ingram) next to me which had plenty of power,” Randle reflected.

“I figured both he and Geoff would get me off the line but Steve got a great jump as well and hit the lead.

“I then thought ‘okay I have just made life a lot more difficult’ but we managed to push through.

“By lap 4-5 the car really came to us and the tyres came on and picked them off, but it was not easy because with two and a half minutes to go I was still third!”

Although the next round is a clash with Supercars, Randle made it clear he would love to return to the Sports Sedans this year and targets the TBA round.

“For sure,” Randle responded.

“I guess with the way the Supercars calendar is this year, any extra miles we can do the better.

“We will have to wait and see once they decide when and where the fourth round is.

“The last round is at Bathurst but I don’t really have any intentions of taking the SAAB to Bathurst.

“We will just keep it to more open tracks.”

The Precision National Sports Sedan Series returns at Sydney Motorsport Park alongside the Supercars on July 19-21.

Main image by Speed Shots Photography

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