Waters planning to turn silver into gold
THERE was plenty of promise for Cameron Waters at Reid Park, but now he intends to turn his silver finishes to the top the podium.
Two seconds and a fourth accounted for a strong Townsville outing for the Tickford Racing star, and will have him raring to go one better this weekend.
The 26-year-old sits equal fourth on the championship standings with Shane van Gisbergen, and he is eager to have a seamless week of preparation to jump further up.
As far as he is concerned, the Ford Mustang GT is near pristine for a win come Townsville round two.
“It gives us a lot of confidence the car’s pretty close in its window,” Waters said.
“It’s not perfect, we can make it a little bit better I think, but it makes it a lot easier when it’s doing most of the things right and you’re only searching for a little bit.
“When your car’s not in its window, you’re kind of scratching your head a little bit. But I’m really excited to come back here in a few days’ time and do it all again.”
A strong qualification set up Waters and Tickford Racing for a successful race day, pushing championship leader Scott Mclaughlin all the way on Sunday afternoon.
With the Bathurst 1000 locked in as the final instalment of the Supercars season, scheduled to begin on October 8, every point counts with just one showcase in Townsville and two in Adelaide to come.
Waters has thrived as crowds have been welcomed back to the events, albeit without the grandstands and vibrant fanfare as pre-coronavirus spectacles.
Consistency could be his biggest weapon in closing the gap on the third placed Chaz Mostert, however it could take some mammoth results to chase down the likes of Mclaughlin and Townsville winner Jamie Whincup.
But after accumulating the second most points across the weekend, and a 14th career podium finish, he said that reliability had him excited for a second crack at the Reid Park track.
“Qualifying is probably everything at the moment, if you can qualify well you can pick when you want to win the tyre (strategy) and it opens up your options a little bit,” Waters said.
“Touch wood, it’s been pretty good for our car this year, it’s helped us quite a lot in the races.
“The back to back weekends doesn’t do a great deal for the preparation, it doesn’t change a great deal.
“We always do what we need to do, so I guess for us it’s a little bit easier because the car’s pretty fast and we don’t have to change a heap of set up. We just concentrate on reliability stuff and making sure everything’s perfect.
“We’ve just got to get through these weekends with some points, and hopefully that puts us in a good position to be able to attack at Bathurst.”