The latter finished 13th in his second full season in Supercars’ top tier, with all of his four solo podiums to date coming in the latter nine races of 2023.
While the 2010 champion, James Courtney, has left Tickford for the Blanchard Racing Team, Waters is expecting – and hoping for – stern intra-team competition.
“It’s super important,” said the two-time Bathurst 1000 pole-sitter of the prospect of a competitive Randle.
“Tom’s just progressively gotten better and better over his time in the main game, and it’s awesome to be part of that.
“You know, I helped guide him a little bit to start with and now he’s pushing me – and sometimes beating me – and that’s what I want.
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“I want someone up there with me and pushing each other.
“We’ve got a really great working relationship and I think, next year, we’re going to be pretty good.”
Randle scored his first Supercars Championship podium as Lee Holdsworth’s co-driver at Tickford in the 2019 Sandown 500 and won the Dunlop Super2 Series title in the following year.
A full-time move into the Supercars Championship in 2021 did not come to pass due to the unavailability of a Racing Entitlements Contract but he did contest a handful of events as a wildcard before again saddling up for the Bathurst 1000.
Last year, he finished the season only 23rd on the points table, one spot behind the driver with whom he shared the second Tickford garage at the time, Jake Kostecki.
After a tough enduro campaign, particularly the Sandown 500, Randle finished inside the top 10 in each of the final four races of the campaign, with a third place in the penultimate encounter of the season in Adelaide.
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