Thomas Randle
Thomas Randle will continue on in the Repco Supercars Championship with Tickford Racing in 2023, Speedcafe.com can confirm.
The now 26-year-old signed a multi-year deal with the team starting in 2021, but was unable to secure a permanent place on the main game grid that year given the Ford squad shrunk to three cars.
For the 2022 season, Tickford obtained a fourth Teams Racing Charter (TRC) — formerly known as a Racing Entitlements Contract.
That paved the way for Randle’s long-awaited full-time step up to Supercars Championship in the #55 Mustang as part of the now four-car operation.
Speedcafe.com understands his drive for next year is part of the original multi-year deal, confirming Randle’s place at Tickford until at least the end of 2023.
While Randle’s continuation was expected, the confirmation means the Campbellfield squad’s four seats have been locked away for next season.
Cameron Waters, James Courtney, and Jake Kostecki are all on multi-year deals that would see them remain at Tickford until at least the end of the 2023 season.
Randle first became a Tickford driver in 2018 when he stepped into the Dunlop Super2 Series, earning his first race wins in the following season.
He had his main game debut with a wildcard outing in 2019, the same year he stood on the podium at the Sandown 500 as a co-driver for Lee Holdsworth as part of the Pirtek Enduro Cup.
The Melburnian spent a year away from Tickford in 2020, in which he won the Super2 title in an MW Motorsport Altima and performed co-driving duties with Brad Jones Racing at Bathurst.
Randle returned to the Tickford fold in 2021, competing as a wildcard in select Supercars rounds and sharing with James Courtney at Bathurst.
In 2022, the #55 qualified on the front row for Sunday morning’s race at The Bend Motorsport Park, his career-best starting position ahead of a fourth-place grid slot in Race 9 at Albert Park.
The Randle news means that current Tickford Super2 driver Zak Best, who impressed in a recent wildcard outing for the squad, will have to look elsewhere if he wants to secure a spot on the main game grid in 2023.
As reported earlier by Speedcafe.com, Team Principal Tim Edwards says he will not stand in Best’s way should the Benalla driver get an opportunity at another team.
Supercars’ next round is the Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint from August 19-21.