Early testing setbacks for Tickford, Team 18

Tickford Racing and Team 18 have both suffered early setbacks during pre-season testing at Winton.

Victorian-based teams took to Winton Motor Raceway for pre-season testing on Tuesday.

Walkinshaw Andretti United, Erebus Motorsport, Brad Jones Racing, Grove Racing and the Blanchard Racing Team also hit the circuit.

Tuesday’s running comes a week after Queensland-based teams paced Ipswich’s Queensland Raceway.

There were few gremlins during last week’s test; notably, Jack Le Brocq’s Matt Stone Racing Commodore was briefly sidelined.

Jake Kostecki’s first test with Tickford featured an off at the high-speed Turn 5.

Kostecki’s #56 Tradie Mustang suffered minor bar damage as the car met a ditch in the infield.

It marked the second time in as many years that a Tickford Mustang found trouble at Turn 5 in testing.

Last February, Thomas Randle was forced to pull over the #44 Ford after a wheel came loose.

As they did 12 months ago with the #44, Tickford quickly repaired the damage to the #56 and returned Kostecki to the circuit.

"He went off at Turn 5 and it damaged the front bars," Tickford engineer Rhys Lenegan told Supercars.com.

"It bottomed out in the ditch there so we had a look at it and it wasn’t too bad.

Tickford swiftly returned the #56 to the track

“It’s been a good day otherwise, Jake's been happy in the car so far."

Scott Pye’s #20 Commodore was also sidelined after Team 18 discovered a niggling power steering issue.

The #20 entry spent the bulk of the morning in the garage as the team resolved the issue.

The majority of the componentry in the car had been replaced since the #20 was sidelined from last year's Repco Bathurst 1000.

New engineer on the #20, Richard Hollway, confirmed to Supercars.com that a power steering line had to be replaced.

The team returned Pye to the circuit and cycled through the changes to the car.

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