Tickford: No call for calm after Ford friendly fire
Supercars
18 Apr
Tickford boss expects Ford teams to continue to race hard
Fords collided disputing AGP race lead twice
Cam Waters and Matt Payne crashed, before Chaz Mostert hit Payne
Tickford Racing CEO Simon Brookhouse expects Ford teams to continue to race hard despite recent friendly fire, saying all teams are "all in it to win."
Ford drivers collided disputing the lead in the final two races of the Grand Prix, with Chevrolet rivals sweeping through to win on both occasions.
Tickford’s Cam Waters and Penrite Racing’s Matt Payne crashed out in Race 5, before Payne was hit by Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert in Race 6.
Where Ford could have sealed consecutive one-two results, Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney and Matt Stone Racing’s Nick Percat claimed the respective spoils.
Speaking in New Zealand ahead of the ITM Taupō Super400, new Tickford boss Brookhouse said his team’s mission remains to be the fastest, but expects Ford squads to race as hard as before.
"We want to be the top team, not just the top Ford team,” Brookhouse told Supercars.com.
"We're flying the flag for Ford, and we want to be as quick as we possibly can for them. But ultimately for us, it's about being the top team, whether it be Ford or whether it be Chev.
"We want to be at the number one pit garage up there.”
When asked if there were discussions with other Ford teams about racing more sensibly together, Brookhouse said: "No, not really. I think we're all in it to win.
"That’s the competitive nature of racing. Accidents and incidents are gonna happen.
“No one does it deliberately, and unfortunately we were just on the bad end of it at the AGP, and so were the Penrite guys. Ultimately, no one wanted that to happen.
"You come back here to Taupō and you race as cleanly as you can and try and get the points.”
The Waters clash forced Payne to race on the conservative side in the Grand Prix finale, following the Mostert clash that led to an apology by the WAU star.
Brookhouse’s comments come after Waters suggested the Ford drivers “probably need to work smarter” to ensure a Mustang ends up in victory lane.
The #6 Monster Energy Ford required chassis repairs between events, but Brookhouse expects Waters and Thomas Randle to be fighting at the front at Taupō after what has proven a season start full of bad luck.
“Cam's ready to go. He is obviously driving quickly. He was driving quickly at the AGP and the cars are running really well,” Brookhouse said.
"We saw Thomas on the Sunday come back through the field and he'd be the quickest car on track. So, we are pretty comfortable with how the cars are running.
"We've just had bad luck really. If you look at Bathurst, the end of the AGP and the incident with Cam and a few other things with Thomas.
"I think that we've done all the work we can, this track suits us and we think we'll go pretty well. The cars we hope are as quick as they were at AGP."
