Big pace drop-off a mystery to Tickford
Supercars
18 Mar
Pace drop-off in Melbourne a mystery for Tickford Racing
Cam Waters went from pole sweep in Sydney, to 13.0 average at AGP
Waters now has fifth best qualifying average, Thomas Randle 12th
Tickford Racing will pore through data to find answers to its one-lap wobbles in Melbourne, which led to Cam Waters relinquishing the championship lead.
Tickford Mustangs were the class of the field in Sydney, Waters sweeping the poles to leave with a perfect 1.0 average, ahead of Thomas Randle's solid 6.7 average.
Come Melbourne, and Waters' weekend qualifying average was a lowly 13.0, and Randle's 16.0. Their respective season averages blew out to 7.86 and 12.0, burying them in the pack.
Errors aside, neither Waters or Randle were able to throw a punch in Melbourne, with Triple Eight Race Engineering the cars to beat at Albert Park.
Crucially, Waters was forced into crucial fightbacks, as Will Brown scored the most points of the weekend to clinch both the Larry Perkins Trophy and the Repco Sprint Cup points lead.
Speaking after Sunday's abandoned race, Tickford Team Manager Matt Roberts admitted his squad was still looking for answers.
“Look, we're still looking into it,” Roberts told Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.
“I know certainly on Saturday morning's quali, Cam made a mistake. His time probably would have stood up to fourth or fifth quickest, like his [Race 7] time did.
“Tom, it was irrespective of where he was, it was P12 or P13, so there or thereabouts.
“So I think the guys did turn it round for that Saturday morning quali. [Race 6] for Cam just didn't quite pan out.
“We’ll go back and like I said, we'll have a look at it, certainly that one lap pace wasn't there.”
On the flip side, Waters was a revelation in the races, charging from 22nd to sixth in Race 4, and from 19th to ninth in Race 6. Randle also powered from 21st to eighth in the first race.
It was another case of what could have been in the finale, with Waters to start fifth with Brown buried in 21st, almost certainly gifting the points lead back to the Tickford star.
“The race pace was extraordinary, so we're certainly happy with the race pace on both cars,” Roberts said.
“They both made inroads and Cam had damage limitations for the championship.
“That's why we wanted it to go green today, because I think we would have steered quite well to the front today. Is what it is, we'll focus and regroup now for New Zealand.”
Waters trails Brown by just seven points heading to the next round in New Zealand. Tickets for the ITM Taupō Super 440 on April 11-13, on are on sale now.
