Thomas Randle will be among those on the edge of their seat awaiting Supercars’ decision on whether or not to release its two shelved Racing Entitlement Contracts.
It’s believed a call could come as soon as today as action kicks off at the Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.
The situation has become clear that Tickford Racing and Matt Stone Racing have submitted tenders for the two RECs made available by the category in recent months.
Supercars however reserves the right to reject any bids.
If both RECs are sold, that would see the grid revert to 26 cars as was last regularly seen in 2018, with Tickford returning to four cars and MSR expanding to three.
As it stands, Tickford has an unusual situation with its 2022 line-up, with Randle its only driver under contract despite not yet cracking into the main game full-time.
Spearhead Cameron Waters is thought likely to re-sign, while the futures of James Courtney and Jack Le Brocq are not yet known.
Having missed out on a seat this year when Tickford was unable to secure a fourth REC – after the Phil Munday-owned licence that had underpinned its previous fourth car shifted to Brad Jones Racing in the off-season – Randle is hoping for some reassuring news.
“I guess I didn’t really know more after Tailem Bend and there hasn’t been a race since,” a coy Randle told Speedcafe.com of his future, in the lead-up to this weekend’s Merlin Darwin Triple Crown.
“That’s probably more a Tim [Edwards, Tickford CEO] question, but I guess it also depends what happens with these RECs.”
The 2020 Super2 Series winner stated his case for why Supercars should facilitate a bigger grid for next season, when Gen3 Mustangs and Camaros are due to debut.
“At the end of the day as a fan and as a spectacle for the sport, you want to see the sport grow and you want to see more cars on the grid,” Randle said.
“It’s just natural. And we’ve done it before, we’ve had 26 cars – hell, we used to have 30 cars on the grid or more.
“I know that’s not sustainable, having 30 cars, but I think 26 is certainly the right number.
“Matt Stone Racing have made it pretty clear that they’re more than capable and willing to run three cars and Tickford have run four cars for many years up until this year.
“It’s just one of those things where we’ll just wait and see. I think everyone is hoping that the RECs are sold and we can press on from there.
“I think that will provide more clarity on 2022.”
Having impressed at Tailem Bend last month where he took an eighth-place finish, Darwin represents the second of three wildcard events for Castrol-backed Randle this year.
He then will return to the driver’s seat for the Repco Bathurst 1000 in October, most likely sharing the #44 Boost Mobile Mustang with James Courtney.
Practice 1 for the Supercars Championship at Hidden Valley gets underway at 11:55 AEST today.
