AUSTRALIA- Tickford Racing will race at home at this weekend’s Sandown SuperSprint, taking on the ninth round of the 2022 Supercars Championship season at Sandown Motor Raceway. The Sandown event hosts Races 24, 25, and 26 of the current campaign, in which Cam Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) leads Tickford, currently sitting second in the drivers’ championship.
 
Waters scored a pair of runner-up finishes at Sandown in 2021, and heads to Springvale this year coming off of another runner-up finish in the most recent Supercars race at The Bend Motorsport Park in late July. The 28-year old scored his first career win at the Sandown 500 in 2017, and is eager to return to the top step as the championship returns to Sandown this weekend.
 
James Courtney (No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang) claimed his second podium of the 2022 season in Tailem Bend with a third place finish in Race 22, and is currently 11^th in the Supercars standings amid a close points battle on the cusp of the top 10. The former Supercars champion has shown an uptick in qualifying performance recently, and aims to continue that form this weekend.
 
Eager to regain the front running form he has shown at times this year, Jake Kostecki (No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang) is looking forward to getting back on track this weekend at Sandown. After a frustrating visit to Tailem Bend, Kostecki is confident he and the team can rebound at Sandown, where Tickford has performed well in recent years.
 
Also keen to get back to racing is Thomas Randle (No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang), whose The Bend SuperSprint came to a premature end after he stalled on the front row at the start of Race 22, and was involved in a start line crashed that sidelined him for the rest of the event. The 26-year old is eager to get back on the horse, so to speak, and is excited to do so at Sandown, where in his only other Supercars visit he stood on the podium, taking third at the 2019 Sandown 500 while co-driving with Lee Holdsworth.
 
The Sandown SuperSprint gets underway this weekend, with practice on Friday ahead of Race 24 on Saturday and Races 25 and 26 on Sunday. An Additional Driver session will also be held on Friday, where Tickford Racing’s co-drivers for the Bathurst 1000 – Zane Goddard (Car 5), James Moffat (Car 6), Zak Best (Car 55), and Kurt Kostecki (Car 56) – will take the wheel of their respective Mustangs for a 30-minute hit out.

DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 Snowy River Caravans Ford Mustang
James Courtney
“Sandown has a really special place in the history of our sport, so it’s always great getting to race there. It’s no surprise there’s rain in the forecast, it seems like it always rains when we race at Sandown, but it’ll be the same for everyone so we’ll deal with it as best we can. We’ve had some good speed lately on the Snowy River car, and obviously it was great to grab another podium at The Bend, so we’ll look to keep building that momentum this weekend at Sandown and keep it up at the pointy end.”

No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cam Waters
“It’s always great to be heading back to Sandown, obviously I got my first win there in the 500 in 2017, and it’s a home race for us, it’s always nice sleeping in your own bed. We’ve been on a good run lately, The Bend was pretty strong for us, and we had a couple of second place finishes at Sandown last year so I think we’ll be pretty competitive. We’re just looking to keep improving and stepping up our game, we’ve had a pretty good year but we’re greedy and want to win more races. We’ll keep our heads down, give it a red hot crack, and hopefully come out of the weekend with some more big trophies.”

No. 55 Castrol Racing Ford Mustang
Thomas Randle
“I’m definitely looking forward to getting back on track this weekend. Obviously The Bend didn’t end the way we wanted, especially after qualifying on the front row that morning, but it was awesome put the Castrol Racing Mustang at the front and show the potential we have. I’m really keen to get back in the car, and there’s no better place to do it than at Sandown, I have some fantastic memories from standing on the podium there with Lee Holdsworth in 2019. I’m looking forward to getting back out there and trying to stick the Castrol Racing Mustang up the front again.”

No. 56 Tradie Ford Mustang
Jake Kostecki
“Sandown’s a cool track to race at, it has a lot of character to it and obviously a lot of heritage too, I think it’s going to be a great weekend. We had a pretty tough weekend at The Bend a few weeks ago, not a lot went right, but we’re looking forward to putting that behind us and having a good crack this weekend. Obviously the Tickford cars have been pretty strong there over the years, and we’ve had good car speed at a lot of events this year, hopefully we can get the car in the window to be in the 10, and then put together a strong weekend.”

Tim Edwards, Team Principal
“We always enjoy racing at Sandown, it’s a great track for the fans, and being a local race we’re expecting a pretty great turnout on the weekend. Coming out of Tailem Bend, obviously the results were pretty mixed, but we showed some good signs of improvement in a lot of areas which is very positive this time of the season, of course that’s a trend we want to continue. We’ve generally been pretty strong at Sandown, but everyone’s a year better so we expect the competition to be just as tight as it’s been all season. Being Supercars and Sandown it’s looking likely to rain as well which throws another variable out there, it’ll be a busy weekend but we’re ready for the challenge and looking forward to it.”

DUNLOP SUPER2 SERIES
The Dunlop Super2 Series returns to action this weekend at Sandown for its fourth event of the 2022 season, where Tickford Racing’s Zak Best (No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X) currently sits fifth in the championship. Having starred in a main game wildcard cameo at The Bend last month, Best sits well within striking distance of the championship lead halfway through the current Super2 campaign, and will look to climb further up the ladder in the weekend’s two races.
 
The Dunlop Super2 Series kicks off action at Sandown on Friday with two practice sessions, before qualifying and one race each on Saturday and Sunday, making up Races 7 and 8 of the 2022 season.
 
No. 78 Best Leisure Industries Ford Falcon FG X
Zak Best
“I’m looking forward to getting on track at Sandown this weekend, I’m feeling pretty confident after the run we had at The Bend in the main game, but we have some work to do to get back into the championship fight in Super2. We’ve had some bad luck in a couple of races that has set us back a bit, but we’ve been pretty fast at all the rounds and there are still lots of points up for grabs, so hopefully we can put together a strong weekend and continue climbing further up towards the front.”