Moffat: Tickford's Bathurst prep 'as good as I can remember'

James Moffat says Tickford's Bathurst prep "as good as I can remember"
Tickford hunting first Bathurst victory in a decade
Waters/Moffat sixth at Sandown, claimed Bathurst podiums in '21 and '22

James Moffat has laid down the gauntlet for Tickford Racing, claiming the team’s Bathurst preparation in 2024 is the best he’s seen since joining as a co-driver in 2018.

Tickford got to work for the Great Race after a disappointing Penrite Oil Sandown 500, with Cam Waters and Moffat dropping from second on the grid to sixth.

Come Thursday in Bathurst, and the Waters/Moffat car was second in Practice 1, with Moffat 12th in the co-driver session declared early after a crash for Scott Pye.

Despite an early issue, the Thomas Randle/Tyler Everingham sister entry was fifth in Practice 1. Dubbo local Everingham, who is auctioning off his Bathurst race helmet for Breast Cancer Trials, ended up a solid seventh in the afternoon session.

Moffat, who has been a Tickford co-driver since 2018, believes the team has never been as well-prepared for the Great Race in his six years as a co-driver, including when he scored Bathurst podiums with Waters in 2021 and 2022.

The second-generation racer's comments come in a year Tickford downscaled from four to two cars.

Waters has won three races and taken five poles, with Randle taking a pole and podium to sit eighth overall, helping the Ford squad to second in the teams' standings.

“We were just a little bit off at Sandown, and our result reflected that,” said Moffat, who crashed out of the 2023 race at The Dipper.

“But I can say that the effort back at the workshop and the preparation into the lead-up for this event has been as good as I can remember, in my time at Tickford as a co-driver.

“That gives us a lot of confidence heading into the weekend that we’ve prepared as well as we can do.

“We know what we’ve got ahead of ourselves for the weekend. We’ve just got to execute.”

Supercars will be back on track for Practice 3 on Friday morning at 10:05am AEDT. Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000 are on sale now.