Waters takes second win of the season in Ford 1-2-3-4

Cam Waters led a Ford 1-2-3-4 in the first of three Supercars races at Townsville to take his second win of the season.

Waters and Dick Johnson Racing’s Brodie Kostecki went into the final lap of the 35-lap race nose-to-tail but Kostecki, who had been on a charge through the field in the late laps, fell just short of the win.

Kostecki started from pole for the fifth time this season but dropped two places at the start, with Waters and Matt Payne (Grove Racing) passing him immediately. But Kostecki quickly reclaimed his speed, and settled into second behind Waters before the pitstop cycle commenced.

Waters came into the pitlane on lap 18 but Kostecki stayed out for another six laps. The net result was that Waters stretched his lead but it was Payne in second when Kostecki resumed.

The DJR Mustang, in a special yellow livery for the weekend, closed while he found a way around Payne, but Waters prevailed by 0.200s.

“Brodie got a bad one [start] but I was pretty keen to get to Turn 2 first,” he said. “I was a little bit shocked to get P1. I just tried to manage that whole last thing, I knew he was behind me and I was just managing that lap. But I am glad there was not one more lap. It’s nice to be at the pointy end.”

Kostecki reported that he made the call to pit after he watched Waters come into the pitlane.

“[It was] a call from me. I thought [when] Cam had pitted, I did not want to pit behind Cam. We are looking pretty good for tomorrow,” he said. “I thought I have a big dive down the last corner but Cam is a pretty smart racer.”

Payne’s team-mate Kai Allen took fourth place after ceding a position to him after their respective pitstops, while Chaz Mostert took fifth.

The Walkinshaw TWG Supra had a minor engine issue during qualifying but it was clearly the fastest of the Toyotas and he jumped to second on the opening lap, before losing places.

Thomas Randle took sixth place for Tickford, an especially impressive result given that he lost half of his Practice session after a technical problem left him on the sidelines. With a place in the all-important championship top 10 in the balance Randle drove a clever race, and stayed out of trouble for all 35 laps.

Both Triple Eight drivers had tough Fridays, with Broc Feeney qualifying 16th and Will Brown 19th, the first time in three years in which the top 15 grid spots have not featured at least one of the team’s cars. Brown’s Mustang had a wheel come loose late in the qualifying session and Feeney’s simply lacked his trademark one-lap speed.

Cameron Waters

Photo by: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

Once the race started Brown put all that behind him to charge through to seventh, reminding everyone why he has been one of the category’s best overtakers. Feeney made it to 10th, at one stage hung wide on a corner, from where he watched Brown spear past two cars – including Feeney’s – at once.

Feeney carried a 15-point lead coming into the weekend but the results hand Payne the series lead by eight points. Two more 200km races, one each on Saturday and Sunday, will complete Supercars’ mid-winter northern swing.

Supercars Townsville – Race 1 results

1	C. Waters Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35				60
2	B. Kostecki Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35		0.2000		60
3	M. Payne Grove Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35		1.3649		54
4	K. Allen Grove Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35		5.6400		47
5	C. Mostert Walkinshaw TWG Racing		Toyota GR Supra	35		2.0768		43
6	T. Randle Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35		1.3381		40
7	W. Brown Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	35		0.7932		36
8	R. Wood Walkinshaw TWG Racing		Toyota GR Supra	35		2.5123		33
9	J. Ojeda PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		2.1264		31
10	B. Feeney Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	35		0.1961		28
11	J. Le Brocq Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		1.4044		26
12	J. Golding Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang S650	35		1.9510		24
13	C. Murray Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		2.4696		22
14	A. De Pasquale Team 18		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		3.3268		20
15	A. Heimgartner Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	35		4.6587		19
16	D. Reynolds Team 18		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		2.7828		17
17	R. Gray Dick Johnson Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35		3.6115		16
18	J. Walls Triple Eight Race Engineering		Ford Mustang S650	35		0.7752		15
19	C. Hill Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	35		0.9147		13
20	A. Cameron Blanchard Racing Team		Ford Mustang S650	35		0.2498		12
21	D. Fraser PremiAir Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		2.6451		11
22	J. Stewart Erebus Motorsport Penrite		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		2.2354		10
23	Z. Bates Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		2.1598		9
24	M. Jones Brad Jones Racing		Toyota GR Supra	35		2.3442		8
25	R. Goodall Tickford Racing		Ford Mustang S650	35		8.7593		7
26	A. Seton Matt Stone Racing		Chevrolet Camaro Mk.6	35		18.4377		6

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