The Pre Brief – The Bend 500

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This week marks our first of two visits to South Australia for 2025 as we head to Tailem Bend to kick off the Ryco Enduro Cup.

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A new race format for the The Bend which welcomes the beginning of a new era with its 500km race on Sunday. Described as quite a gruelling track that can either be your best friend or worst enemy, and it all comes down to the car setup.

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We head to the Rycro Enduro Cup with our main game drivers plus the new Tickford Wildcard entry joining the field. An exciting milestone for the team entering a Wildcard entry as we continue to build on our strong development program.

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Car 6 welcomes back Bathurst winner and Supercars Champion Mark Winterbottom to the team, stepping into a Ford for the first time since 2019. Between Waters and Winterbottom, Enduros are nothing new and both drivers understand the task at hand come Practice 1 on Friday.

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Car 55 bolsters a strong pairing with James Moffat partnering with Randle for the 2025 Ryco Enduro Cup. The team are incredibly excited to continue with Moffat for 2025 as his experience with the team since 2019 will be very handy for the enduro season.

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The wildcard entry, Car 5, is piloted by two of Tickford’s current Dunlop Series stars in Lochie Dalton and Rylan Gray. Both Lochie and Rylan have had solo wildcard entries in 2025 and have continued to dominate in the Dunlop Series to date.

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The Bend has been a happy hunting ground over the years for Tickford, especially in 2023 when both Waters and Randle collected podiums over that weekend. Thomas picked up his maiden Supercars pole at Tailem Bend in 2023 and clean swept the podium over the 3 races.

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Practice kicks off on Friday 11:10AM ACST. Full track schedule can be found here.

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Driver #6 Cam Waters:‍

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‍Enduro season is always great time of year, plus it is great to be paired with Frosty and the experience that he will bring for the next two rounds.

I have been working hard with the team post Ipswich to find that extra pace in the car to make sure we put ourselves in the right position this weekend.

The Bend has been a track we have usually performed well at in recent years as a team, so we will look to roll out strong come practice 1 on Friday.‍

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‍Driver #55 Thomas Randle

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‍‍I am very excited to get back to The Bend as it has been a strong track for me and the team over the last couple of years.

Its been a big few weeks for me spending plenty of time on the sim in Melbourne and over in the USA on my recent trip.

With the addition of Moffat jumping in the car, its sure to be a strong Enduro season for us both. We have both been around Tickford for a similar amount of time, so have known each other well and clicked instantly from our Test day at QR.

It's a big weekend for Moff as he has double duties in Supercars and TransAm, but more track time is only going to be more beneficial for us when he jumps in the Castrol Mustang. ‍

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‍Co-Driver #6 Mark Winterbottom:

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‍It’s fantastic to return to Tickford and I am really excited to be honest. It’s all those emotions coming together that has me eager to kick off the enduro races.

Partnering with Cam, who is one of the benchmarks of the Championship is going to put us in a great spot as a duo and Ill make sure I do everything to put him up the front come that last stint.

I know The Bend can be a really challenging circuit if the car is not where it needs to be, but we learnt plenty at QR on our test day a few weeks back that will help us roll out strong on Friday.‍

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‍Co-Driver #55 James Moffat

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‍Very excited to be continuing with Tickford heading into another Enduro season. Randle is an exceptional driver and we are ready to deliver a strong Enduro Cup and further secure his place in the Finals.

Even though I am jumping in a different car for 2025, I feel like Thomas and I have been able to gel well immediately with us both being around at Tickford for the same amount of time.

We had a great day out at Queensland Raceway on the test day and I am thrilled to jump in and give the most positive result for Car 55 and the team.‍

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‍Driver #5 Lochie Dalton

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‍‍It's great to be getting back into the #5 Mustang this weekend at The Bend.

It has been a positive year for me in the Dunlop Program and there was plenty learnt in my solo Wildcard entry at Perth earlier this year.

Rylan and I work really well together so we know come Friday we will be in a good mindset to make sure we get the most out of this Ryco Enduro Cup.

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‍‍Driver #5 Rylan Gray‍

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‍To be able to get my debut in the Supercars Endruo season this year is very exciting.

I have been keen to get back behind the wheel of the #5 Mustang since my Supercars Debut at Hidden Valley a few months back.

We have had an incredibly strong year in the Dunlop Program and we will take that momentum into the Ryco Enduro Cup with Lochie.