Rebounding from an Adelaide 500 where Randle lost power steering in Race 1 and suffered extensive crash damage that kept him out for the remainder of the weekend, the rookie scored a tenth place finish in Saturday’s Super2 race to cap his 22nd birthday with his first race finish in a Supercar and a strong result. “It really was my introduction into proper tin top racing. I got to learn the ways of ‘biff and barge,’ and on my side it was quite an eventful race. But we came away with a fairly straight car, and to get our first race finish and first top ten is fantastic. We’ve just got to build on it from here, qualifying didn’t go quite the way I wanted, but I just tried to keep cool and not be too frustrated. We had a safety car, so I had to learn on the fly how those are like in Super2, but it was an exciting race, the car was good and the boys have been great to work with.”
Randle concluded his weekend with 12th and 8th place finishes in Super2 Races 5 and 6 on Sunday respectively. Randle struggled off the line in Race 5 from a P11 starting spot and fell through the field, but recovered to gain ten spots over the remaining 29 laps for a satisfying 12th. The now-22 year old rookie was able to avoid early carnage to gain three spots in the first handful of laps of Race 6, managing eighth to cap his first full Super2 weekend. “This weekend was probably the steepest learning curve I’ve had in terms of race craft. In Sunday morning’s race I made a small mistake on the start, and dropped us from 11th to 22nd, but it was almost a good thing for me, because it taught me how to race these cars in different circumstances and changing track conditions. I picked up ten spots to get back to 12th, giving me more confidence every lap. In the second race we were able to move forward to eighth, so it was good to finish the weekend with our best result. We had pretty good pace, and it was nice to get our first full round in the books. We’ll head to Perth with a little bit of momentum but still plenty to learn. I know I’ve got to work on the qualifying, that will help us moving forward. Perth’s another new track for me, so I will be spending a bit of time on the simulator. I’m looking forward to racing on the other side of the country.”
Round three of the Dunlop Super2 Series takes place at Barbagallo Raceway in Perth on the 4th – 6th of May.
Results:
Race 1: 10th Race 2: 12th Race 3: 8th