Randle set to join Supercars field at The Bend

Randle has long been linked to a series of wildcard starts this year as part of his multi-year deal with the race-winning Supercars squad.

Those one-off starts will effectively be in lieu of the full-time seat Randle was in the frame for had Tickford been able to secure a fourth Racing Entitlements Contract for this season.

While nothing has been confirmed, it's widely expected that Randle will make the first of his wildcard starts at The Bend on May 8-9.

Should that plan come to fruition it would mark his second solo Supercars start, the other coming at the same circuit in 2019.

The likes of Darwin and Perth have been floated as other potential wildcard rounds for the 24-year-old, while he's already locked in as a co-driver for the Bathurst 1000.

Tickford boss Tim Edwards stopped short of confirming Randle will be on the grid at The Bend, but reiterated that a wildcard programme is in the works.

"We're working towards a wildcard programme with Randle, we've made not secret of that," he told Motorsport.com.

"We're working through all the commerciality of that at the moment."

Backing for the wildcard programme could well come from Castrol, the brand having upped its support of Randle in the S5000 series.

It's also a long-time backer of the Tickford squad and features prominently on the rear wing endplate of both Cam Waters and James Courtney's cars this season.

Tickford is expected to revisit a return to four cars for the 2022 Supercars season once the two spare Racing Entitlements Contracts go on sale later this year.

Should it successfully bid for one of those RECs the door will be open for Randle to make a long-awaited full-time main game debut.