Randle's key focus ahead of maiden full-time season
04 Oct 2021
Thomas Randle says his fitness remains a priority ahead of his maiden full-time Repco Supercars Championship season.
His 2022 campaign will begin in Newcastle, which on Wednesday was confirmed as the host venue of the 2022 season opener.
It will mark the first Supercars round in Newcastle since the 2019 season finale.
Randle completed two Super2 events at the circuit in 2018 and 2019, notably claiming the Saturday pole in 2019 before recording two podiums.
With an eye on 2022, Randle was excited to start his main game journey proper in the Steel City.
"It's great to be back at Newcastle," Randle told Supercars.com.
"I mean, it's pretty brutal that it might be the two 250km races, which is what traditionally has been at the start of every year.
"It's unfortunate that's no longer at Adelaide... but I mean, it's probably the next best thing really, apart from a Bathurst start to the year which we had this year."
Randle has impressed in his Castrol-backed Tickford wildcard entry this season, recording two top 10 results in Tailem Bend and Darwin.
Randle claimed a Newcastle pole in 2019
He was unable to complete his third wildcard appearance after the Perth and Phillip Island rounds were cancelled due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 Super2 champion completed a test in his Castrol Mustang at Winton on Tuesday.
Randle will also co-drive one of Tickford's three main game entries at this year's Repco Bathurst 1000.
The 25-year-old also overcame an 18-month battle with testicular cancer earlier this year.
Now in remission from the disease, Randle celebrated six months since his last round of chemotherapy in July.
Ahead of his full-time debut in Newcastle, the Melbourne-based driver has returned to running while in lockdown due to COVID restrictions in the state.
While the format of the season opener is still to be confirmed, Randle says he is preparing for racing in hot temperatures.
"I've really been working on my fitness over the last six months, since recovering from what I went through at the start of the year," Randle said.
"I've genuinely probably feel fitter now than I ever have, but I just really want to work on that.
"So when we get to Newcastle next year, which I think is going to be pretty hot round at the beginning of March.
"It's always quite warm up there being in the north of New South Wales and a street circuit is very demanding as well.
"So I just want to have everything right from my aspect.
Randle on track in Newcastle in 2019
"I don't want to leave that round knowing that I could have been fitter and that I couldn't handle, for example, the Sunday, because you've really got to rebound from the Saturday.
"It's interesting, our sport, it's not like AFL I guess, where you sort of play the game and then the next game is that the following week.
"We put everything on the line, our bodies on the line on a Saturday, and then we've got to completely re-bounce for the Sunday and recover properly, so we're just as sharp to do another 250k race.
"So yeah, I've been working on my fitness and not even just for that it's also for the next wildcard round that we do.
"Also for the Bathurst 1000 this year, so I just want to make sure everything I do, I can do right.
"It's always a constantly evolving thing with the fitness, I can always be better, so that's kind of been the number one at the moment, but really it's a pretty spectacular place to start my full-time campaign."
