Wildcards confirmed for Sydney return

Thomas Randle and Kurt Kostecki will make their third wildcard appearances of the 2021 season at the second Sydney event.

Sydney Motorsport Park will host four consecutive weekends of racing from October 29.

Three of the events will feature night racing, with the first race of the first event - the Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight - to begin under lights.

It has been more than three months since the pair's last race outing at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown in June.

Wildcards Randle and Kostecki were previously locked in for three rounds in Tailem Bend, Darwin and Perth.

However, the cancellation of the Perth event ensured the wildcards were set for a venue change.

On Thursday, Supercars confirmed Tickford Racing and Walkinshaw Andretti United will field wildcards for Randle and Kostecki respectively at Sydney Motorsport Park.

“I’m really looking forward to my third wildcard event,” Kostecki told Supercars.com.

“Like everything this year, we’ve had a few different plans about this third event, but it’s great to be locked in, and I can’t wait to get to SMSP.

“It’ll be a challenge with the rest of the field having a week’s extra running before we get there, but it will be good to lean on the team, especially Chaz [Mostert] and Bryce [Fullwood], to get Car 27 up to speed as quickly as possible.”

Randle completed a test day aboard the Castrol-backed wildcard Ford Mustang at Winton in September, but Kostecki has been unable to travel to Melbourne due to COVID-19 border restrictions from Queensland.

Both drivers impressed in their Tailem Bend and Darwin starts; notably, both drivers recorded top 10 results in the Darwin opener in June.

Randle also finished eighth in the chaotic Race 10 at the OTR SuperSprint in between finishes of 17th and 15th.

The 2020 Super2 champion backed up his Tailem Bend top 10 at Hidden Valley with finishes of ninth, 25th and 11th.

Kostecki, the older brother of Matt Stone Racing driver Jake, finished 19th, 16th and 23rd in the three Tailem Bend sprints.

He scored his best career Supercars finish of sixth in Race 12 in Darwin, before finishing 23rd and 17th on the Sunday.

Neither driver has made a main game start at Sydney Motorsport Park; Kostecki scored finishes of 14th, 10th and 10th in the Super2 event in 2017.

It will be Kostecki's first time running under lights in Sydney, with Randle contesting in the opening twilight Super2 race at the venue in 2020. 

The Tickford recruit, who scored a full-time seat for 2022, featured on the Super2 podium twice in Sydney last year, claiming victory in Race 2.

“Third time’s the charm!” Randle told Supercars.com.

“I’m very excited to join the field again in the Castrol Racing Mustang at the second Sydney event, especially with two night races on the schedule.

"The racing at Sydney Motorsport Park is always really intense, so I’m looking forward to being in the thick of it with the main game guys and hopefully scoring a few more solid results.

"The track looks fantastic under the lights so I’m really keen to get up there and be a part of the action.”

The 2021 Repco Supercars Championship will continue at next weekend’s Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight. Tickets for all four upcoming Sydney events are on sale now.

All sessions will be broadcast live on Fox Sports and streamed via Kayo. The Seven Network will broadcast live from 3:30pm AEDT on Saturday and 12:30pm AEDT on Sunday.