Randle was in the box seat to score a breakthrough Supercars win by scoring pole and robustly holding out teammate Cam Waters through the opening two corners.
He then lost the lead to eventual winner Waters by running wide at Turn 4 and was left to fight out the remaining podium places with Triple Eight duo Will Brown and Broc Feeney.
Randle came off second-best in a clash with Brown before a late-race mistake meant he cannoned into Feeney, earning a penalty that left him 18th in the result.
Visibly distraught after the race, Randle was pushed out of the Triple Eight garage when he went down to apologise, and later said that his whole experience “doesn’t feel real”.
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“It’s a tough day for Thomas, he’s hurting,” Tickford CEO Brookhouse said post-race. “He had every chance (to win), he put it on pole…
“But we’re a great team, and when the guys put it on the front row today, they were both as happy for each other, which is important that we’re happy as a team.
“I think what’s really important is the boys growing really well. The cars are really quick at the moment, so we are competitive every time we roll out.
“Cam’s having a great year. He’s winning races, and Thomas is just getting better and better.
“Whilst he’ll go away today really disappointed, I think as a team, we’re really proud of him.
“He owned and admitted he made a mistake. And you can’t ask much more than that, so all we can do is learn from it and come back stronger at Sandown.”
Team co-owner Nash backed Randle’s approach to racing hard.
“The point is that he’s at the pointy end and he’s got to be a warrior,” he said.
“He is a great teammate in the competitive sense, so he needs to keep charging on.”
Brookhouse also addressed the post-race altercation between Randle and Triple Eight team manager Dutton when asked by Speedcafe whether the Tickford garage would be more welcoming if the roles were reversed.
“It was a heat of the moment situation. These things happen, and you know, they are stressful environments,” he said.
“They’ve been racing all day out there for an hour as fast as they possibly can and incidents happen, emotions run high.
“I’d like to think that we’d be welcoming if someone wants to apologise and own up, but you just don’t know until it actually happens.
“I think the important thing, from our team’s perspective, is that our driver knows he’s made a mistake, he’s admitted it and we move on.”
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