Tim Edwards was left frustrated after Jake Kostecki added to the already hefty Tickford Racing damage bill with a qualifying crash at Surfers Paradise.
The #56 Mustang of Kostecki found the fence at Turn 12 and damaged both front corners of his car in the red flag-interrupted encounter.
It follows a chassis swap for Car #5 of James Courtney after a crash for Zane Goddard at Bathurst and the start-line crash for Thomas Randle at Tailem Bend.
Edwards was confident the team will be able to turn Kostecki’s Mustang around before the 250km race this afternoon, which begins at 15:45 local time/16:45 AEDT.
He said on the broadcast: “We came into this weekend saying ‘we seriously don’t need any more accident damage’.
“We’re nudging $600,000 in damage for this year compared to a normal year of $200,000.
Secure your spot today.
“It’s not just that, to be honest, it’s the workload that’s been put on the team.
“It’s been extreme, so the guys and girls have had to dig really deep even to recover from the Car #5 accident at Bathurst as well.
“That was a re-shell of a car, huge amount of work so yeah, it’s pretty frustrating.
“I suppose the biggest challenge is that we’re flat out trying to get ready for Gen3,” Edwards added.
“So your manufacturing resources are stretched because you can’t not go to the next event with these current cars without spares.
“We’ve distracted ourselves a lot from Gen3 with what’s gone on over the last two or three months really.
“That’s just added pressure onto the team; we’re okay, we’ve come here with a full arsenal of spares and I think as crashes go that’s more of a flesh wound.
“It will need a couple of arms and it will be good to go this afternoon.”
Shane van Gisbergen claimed provisional pole ahead of the Top 10 Shootout, which is currently underway.
Discussion about this post