Randle Tickford's shining light amid tough AGP

Thomas Randle’s consistency proved a shining light on what was a bruising weekend for Tickford Racing at Albert Park.

Randle recorded finishes of 12th, eighth, ninth and 11th at the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint.

Critically, the 2020 Super2 champion was best placed of the four Tickford drivers across the weekend.

Randle was seventh in the points for the round, with team spearhead Cam Waters 10th, albeit six points behind.

He was also second Ford driver home behind Walkinshaw Andretti United star Chaz Mostert.

James Courtney had a shocker — he was ninth in Race 3, and lost a podium over the Race 4 incident that saw David Reynolds buried in the Turn 1 gravel trap.

The incident also implicated Waters, who — having led the championship after Race 1 — is now 145 points from the lead.

His weekend ended prematurely after his Snowy Rivers Caravans Mustang went up in flames on Saturday, forcing a second DNS in as many rounds.

The fire has caused an estimated $100,000 worth of damage to Courtney’s car, which has already undergone major repairs after his Newcastle crash

Tickford rookie Declan Fraser brought home his first solo top 10 in Race 4, amid results of 24th, 13th and 21st.

While pleased with a clean weekend, Randle — who finished 21st and 18th in Newcastle — knows there’s plenty more to learn.

“Seventh in the points and second Ford, very solid round for us,” Randle told the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

“Newcastle was not as kind, and we went back to the drawing board, myself included.

“There’s so much to learn, how differently I need to be driving these cars, I need to be more finite with my inputs.”

Randle will have a short break before heading to Mount Panorama for this weekend’s Bathurst 6 Hour.

The 27-year-old will race with Ben and Michael Kavich in support of Race for a Cure.

The 6 Hour entry will be raising funds for clinical trials research conducted on behalf of Breast Cancer trials.

After Bathurst, Randle will head west for the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint — and given his Melbourne weekend, the Victorian is confident.

“To have four clean races — which after the chaos we’ve seen this weekend — I don’t think we could’ve done much better in the races,” he said.

“Ray [Lau, engineer] called the shots with strategy, which were really good.

“Maybe that last race, in hindsight, might’ve been better to start on Hards.

“But I’m happy we started on [Super] Softs, we did it for every other race and it seemed to work pretty well.

“We’ll see what happens in Perth in a few weeks’ time.”

Randle is 14th in the points heading to the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint on April 28-30.