Three weeks after his first Super2 race win was stripped by a post-race penalty, BRDC Rising Star Thomas Randle achieved “pure redemption” on Saturday at Ipswich, taking his second career Super2 pole and leading every lap in Race 8 en route to his first official career race win in a Supercar.
“These are those days you dream about, to be honest. To get pole, after yesterday, I knew I needed to find about a tenth and a half in my driving, we went over the data last night and this morning, and put everything together on that first lap, and it was awesome. I wanted to just finish the job, and the Skye Sands Tickford Falcon was amazing in the race, really great to drive, and to finally get that legitimate win – I know we crossed the line first in Townsville – but to cross it again first today and hang onto it is a special feeling.”
Following his breakthrough win on Saturday in the Dunlop Super2 Series, Thomas Randle was three laps from completing the perfect weekend before a minor engine issue ended his bid for back-to-back wins. After qualifying second, Randle stormed to the lead off the start line, and managed a narrow advantage on the field through the first 17 laps of the 20-lap race. However, on Lap 18, Randle’s Ford Falcon FG X suffered an air box fire in the engine, causing a brief loss of power to Car 5, allowing the second-place Car 16 to pass for the lead. Randle held on to finish the race second, and also took runner-up honours for the Ipswich round, having lost on a points tiebreaker to Car 16 as Car 16 won the last race of the weekend.
“I don’t think I can be disappointed at all, I mean I think the team have done a fantastic job. We definitely found some form in Townsville after our last test day, and I think we carried it through this weekend. I don’t really feel like the team or myself put a foot wrong this weekend. We qualified on pole yesterday and won the race and today qualified second, I got a really good start and probably led 97-percent of the laps this weekend, and unfortunately coming out of (Turn) 3 I had a small air box fire. First one all weekend, so it’s just one of those unfortunate things that happened. I can’t be upset with the team, like I said they’ve done a fantastic job and the car was really fast, and hopefully we can carry this momentum on to Bathurst.”
Randle now sits fourth in the championship, only seven points behind third. The fifth round of the 2019 Dunlop Super2 Series takes place at Mount Panorama at Bathurst, NSW on the 10-13 of October.
Aside from his strong showing at Queensland Raceway, the team announced that Randle will be making his Supercars debut at the next round of the championship at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia. Tickford Racing has confirmed it will field Randle in a fifth Mustang entry. Randle is set to have his first taste of the car at Winton in a fortnight, where its sponsor and livery will be revealed.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” said Randle of his upcoming wildcard start. “We’ve got a test day in just under two weeks at Winton, it’ll be a five-car test, all of the team will be there and myself in a Mustang.
“I’ve driven on the [Tailem Bend] track a couple of times in our Saab Sports Sedan, so it’s good I’m not rocking up to a completely new track.” “I'd love to be in the top 20, I mean top 15 would be an ultimate achievement," he said.
Next month’s OTR SuperSprint at The Bend will take place on the 23-25 of August.
