Tickford duo out for Gold Coast 500 glory

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Tickford duo out for Gold Coast 500 glory

If championship contender Cam Waters needs help fending off the Supercars grid, teammate Thomas Randle won’t be a certainty to answer his call.

The Tickford duo on Thursday returned to the Gold Coast for what is the penultimate race of the season.

While eight-placed Randle is mathematically out of contention for the championship after 20 races this year, Waters ******** a slim chance in fourth.

Waters is 464 points behind leader and Red Bull ace Will Brown and will need to be perfect across the two races on the street circuit if he wants to be in contention at the Adelaide 500.

He must close the gap by at least 165 points, with 300 available this round.

Should he fall 151 points behind after the first race on Saturday, Waters’ title aspirations will end.

But Randle won’t easily give up his race to help boost Waters’ chances.

“If he needs a hand, we’ll have to wait and see,” Randle said on Thursday.

“I’m just going to be out there doing my own race. I want to win it for myself and for the team.

“It’s motor racing. Anything can happen, and it usually does.”

Randle is stuck in the top-10 bottom-half logjam after claiming one podium and one pole, with just 188 points separating James Golding (fifth) and Will Davison (10th).

Randle has never finished in the top 10 since his 2019 debut, last year placing 13th in a career best.

“Cam is in a different position. He’s fourth and I guess he’s trying to get in the top three,” he said.

“I’m eighth but it’s kind of a really close battle between fifth and 10th, and I’m right in the middle of it.

“The goal for me … if we could finish top five in the championship, that’d be amazing.”

Brad Jones Racing driver Andre Heimgartner – also out of contention in 12th – is looking to return to the Gold Coast podium for the first time since finishing third in 2017.

The New Zealander survived wild and wet conditions to claim the second win of his career earlier this year at Taupo International Motorsport Park.

“It’s been pretty lean since (2017) and this year has been a bit ********** for us, but we’ve managed to turn it around,” Heimgartner said.

“The circuit is obviously pretty unique. It’s very wild.

“The walls are so close … if you don’t have scrapes down either side of your car, you’re not pushing hard enough.”

The first practice session of the weekend gets underway on Friday at 1.30pm (AEDT).

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