Cameron Waters made a press release with a pole-to-flag Saturday win on the streets of the Gold Coast for the second 12 months in succession in Supercars.
After taking a season-high sixth pole place, Waters gained the beginning in his Tickford Racing Ford Mustang and constructed a lead of over 5 seconds earlier than his first pitstop. For a lot of the center stint he had team-mate Thomas Randle shut behind, earlier than he pulled away and went on to win by a convincing 9.41s.
“What a day, what a weekend to date. This factor has been an absolute rocketship all weekend,” he grinned after his fourth race win of the season.
“I bought a very good begin, I had a fairly cool race automotive and I simply needed to take advantage of it. The automotive was bloody good and I do not suppose we’ll be doing a lot to it [overnight].”
Randle drove strongly to make it a Tickford 1-2, and at one stage was proper below Waters’s wing, earlier than settling again to make sure his second podium end of the season.
“What a race! It was fairly loopy down at Flip 1 however I made it via,” mentioned Randle after his crew’s first 1-2 end result since 2017.
“I used to be making an attempt to not look within the mirrors, it [the gap to Broc Feeney] was flickering after which going again up. The pitstops had been wonderful.”
Triple Eight’s Feeney, who began fourth, was aided by a really quick first pitstop and who, inevitably, dropped again to eighth after a essentially longer second cease, however nonetheless emerged as one of the best of the Chevrolet Camaros. He snatched third place off Matt Payne with 10 laps remaining, after which chased Randle earlier than settling for third.
In Fourth place got here Matt Payne, who began from the fifth row after he overshot a nook throughout his shootout lap. The Grove Racing Ford driver consolidated early and as soon as he bought into clear air, he was in a position to set fast lap occasions.
Recent from his Bathurst win, Brodie Kostecki gave Erebus Motorsport fifth place after ranging from tenth on the grid after triggering a kerb sensor on his high 10 shootout lap. Sixth was David Reynolds, a deserved reward for the Team18 squad which primarily constructed a brand new Chevrolet after Reynolds’s important Bathurst qualifying crash.
Behind Reynolds in seventh was Triple Eight’s Will Brown. The championship chief began from eleventh on the grid after crashing out of the provisional qualifying session and, after swift repairs, understandably drove a circumspect race to take seventh.
Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet) was eighth forward of Richie Stanaway, who began from the entrance row within the Grove Racing Ford and ran in second place within the early laps, earlier than dropping again.
The one driver who might have challenged Waters for the win was Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, who battled with a gearshift sensor downside which negated his flat-shift function. Throughout each his gas stops it additionally slowed his Ford practically to strolling tempo within the pitlane, costing him round 5 seconds in his first cease and 20 in his second. His comfort prize was tenth place.
One of many quickest of the Chevrolets and one who might need challenged for a podium was PremiAir Racing Camaro driver James Golding, who snatched third place from Stanaway on lap 11 and chased after the Fords. However a left-rear wheel nut bought caught at his first pitstop, dropping him out of the highest 20. By the top of the race he recovered barely however solely to sixteenth place.
The outcomes imply that Brown, who carried a 204 championship level lead over Feeney into the race, noticed his benefit decreased to 171 factors, 2634 to 2463. Mostert stays third on 2391 forward of Waters (2224), Mayne (1779) and Golding (1775).
Sunday’s schedule will see the Supercars again on the 3km road circuit at 10:10am native time for qualifying, for the highest 10 shootout at 12:35pm and on the grid for the twenty second race of the season over 85 laps at 3:15pm.
