Tickford Racing will not necessarily stick to its enduro pairings at today’s Winton Supercars test day.
The Campbellfield outfit yesterday conducted a Rookie Test Day for Declan Fraser and Thomas Randle, the latter of whom is eligible for such an outing by virtue of being in his second full Repco Supercars Championship season, but will run all four of its Gen3 Mustangs today.
Cameron Waters, James Courtney, Randle, and Fraser will be joined by James Moffat, Zak Best, Garry Jacobson, and Tyler Everingham, who were named as Tickford’s enduro co-drivers in February.
As yet, and consistent with the team’s usual practice, it has not confirmed pairings for the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 or Repco Bathurst 1000, and the mystery is likely to continue for a little while.
“I might just mix them all up on the day just to keep you guessing,” Team Principal Tim Edwards quipped to Speedcafe.
He added, “We probably will, actually, because it’s always good to put them all in different cars.”
Nevertheless, it is expected that Waters and Moffat will remain together in the #6 Monster Energy Mustang after sharing podiums in both of the last two editions of the Great Race.
Speedcafe also understands that Courtney will be joined by Best this time around after the native of Benalla, across the Hume Highway from Winton, partnered Randle last year.
The co-driver berth in the #5 Snowy River Caravans Mustang will be filled by a new name given Zane Goddard, who drove with Courtney in 2022, is now part of Triple Eight Race Engineering’s Supercheap Auto wildcard programme.
Jacobson and Everingham are new arrivals at the team for 2023, although the former is not completely new considering he won a Dunlop Super2 Series title with Tickford, in 2016, and drove its #56 entry in the enduros of 2017.
Fellow four-car team Brad Jones Racing is also testing at Winton today, with its four Camaros to be driven by Andre Heimgartner/Dale Wood, Bryce Fullwood/Dean Fiore, Macauley Jones/Jordan Boys, and Jack Smith.
The latter’s co-driver in the #4 SCT Logistics machine, factory Porsche driver Jaxon Evans, will be absent due to his overseas commitments.
Walkinshaw Andretti United will bring Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth and Nick Percat/Fabian Coulthard to test its Mustangs, while Grove Racing is using a Rookie Test Day for Matt Payne and Erebus Motorsport is using a Driver Evaluation Day for Jay Hanson and Cooper Murray, who will be guided by Will Brown.