The early chaos in the 2022 Bathurst 1000 has left several teams with hefty repair bills to fix damaged cars. This includes the likes of Brad Jones Racing, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing and Dick Johnson Racing.
It was a disaster from the start for Tickford, losing two cars in the first five laps, Zak Best, co-driving for Thomas Randle, not even making Turn 2 of the 161 lap race. He was caught up in an incident on Mountain Straight, taking evasive action and hitting the inside wall.
James Courtney was the other eliminated, his co-driver, Zane Goddard, losing control at The Chase and taking out Matt Campbell and Dale Wood on re-entry.
In an interview with Motorsport.com, Tickford boss Tim Edwards recognised this was the teams worst ever year for damage, the bill already exceeding $600,000.
“I’ve never had a season like this, ever,” he said in the interview.
“Not just the fact that we’re financially down the gurgler, because we were over half a million dollars in crash damage before we came here and that’s another $100,000 or more from today, the guys are working around the clock.
“It’s a disgrace the amount of damage we’ve had this year.”
To further compound the matter, Courtney’s chassis won’t be repaired in time for the next event, the Gold Coast 500. Instead, he will use the one which received major damage after Randle stalled on the start at The Bend earlier this year, that car nearly repaired.
Their saving grace, however, a Cam Waters podium, providing a bright spark on a dark day. Their other driver, Jake Kostecki, with Kurt Kostecki, finished 17th.
Brad Jones Racing (BJR) was another team in the wars during the race, Wood, co-driving for New Zealander Andre Heimgartner, hit side-on at speed by the re-joining Goddard.
That car, too, was a newer chassis after Heimgartner collected the stalled Randle on the start at The Bend.
Fellow BJR racers Jack Smith and Jaxon Evans also added to the bill, Smith burying the car in the wall late in the race. Evans also didn’t avoid the drama, damaging the front of the car on Lap 1.
Macauley Jones also had an incident in qualifying when he was collected by Shane van Gisbergen, his car needing significant repair overnight before the Great Race.
Grove Racing, meanwhile, will go about trying to repair David Reynolds’ car which was also badly damaged in the Lap 5 incident at The Chase. Should they require, a spare chasis is on hand for the Gold Coast 500.
“We’ve got a spare chassis and we’ve looked at whether we will use that, but our gut feeling is that we’ll put it on the jig in the workshop and it will be right for the Gold Coast,” Grove Racing team owner Stephen Grove said in an interview with Motorsport.com.
“But we do have a spare rolling chassis ready to go if we need it.
“It’s not just the money that goes into it, it’s the time and effort to prepare for this race. It’s bitterly disappointing.”
Finally, Dick Johnson Racing will have to fork out for to repair Will Davison’s damaged Mustang. He was a victim late in the race, running into the barriers at Griffins and withdrawing as a result.
With two rounds still to run in 2022, teams will be hoping for some clean results before they retire the cars to prepare for the Gen3 era.
Header Image: Supercars
