Tickford Racing
27 SEP 2020
Cam Waters dominates Race 30, takes victory at The Bend
Cameron Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) has scored his second career Supercars victory on Sunday, taking out Race 30 of the 2020 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. Starting from second, Waters took the lead on Lap 1 with a pass on the outside of Turn 1 and never looked back, only relinquishing the lead during the race's pit stop cycle en route to leading 19 laps and taking the chequered flag. Including a third place finish in Race 29 earlier on Sunday afternoon and following another third place on Saturday, Waters' eighth podium of 2020 moves his career tally to 18, and he maintains third in the Supercars drivers' championship heading to the season finale at Bathurst next month.
In Race 29 James Courtney (No. 44 Boost Mobile Ford Mustang) followed Waters home in fourth place, and finished 10th in Race 30 after splitter damage hampered his race pace in the final race of the weekend.
Lee Holdsworth (No. 5 Truck Assist Ford Mustang) was forced to retire from Race 29 after contact on the first lap damaged much of the front left corner of his car, but he rebounded in Race 30 to finish ninth after starting 13th.
A frustrating Sunday for Jack Le Brocq (No. 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang) spun early in Race 29, dropping him to the rear of the field. Le Brocq recovered to finished 13th, but endured a challenging Race 30 where he was knocked around again early in the back half of the field, ultimately finishing 19th.
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship next heads to its crown jewel and 2020 season finale, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, the lone endurance race on the revised 2020 calendar. On-track action for Australia's Great Race begins Thursday, October 15, ahead of the 161-lap endurance classic on Sunday, October 18.
DRIVERS' VIEW<
No. 5 Truck Assist Ford Mustang
Lee Holdsworth
Race 29 Quali: 1m15.93s, 17th
Race 30 Quali: 1m15.82s, 13th
Race 29 Finish: DNF
Race 30 Finish: 9th
"We just couldn't catch a break this weekend really. We still struggled a bit in quali today to get the tyre to work the way we wanted to, and obviously that bit us in the first race. For some reason a couple guys thought three wide in the last corner could work, I was on the inside but ended up getting smashed, that was certainly a terrible part of our weekend. But at least we finished the last race with a reasonable result. It shows we had a really quick race car, so hopefully we can carry that on to Bathurst and have our best race of the year there."
No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cameron Waters
Race 29 Quali: 1m15.52s, 3rd
Race 30 Quali: 1m15.55s, 2nd
Race 29 Finish: 3rd
Race 30 Finish: 1st
"I'm so pumped for the boys, we've been so close this year, a bunch of seconds and thirds, so to finally get one feels great. We made some changes to the car between races today and made it a bit better, I knew I just needed a good start and I finally got one, and we were away. We had a fast car in clean air and the boys did a mega job in the pit stop, so it's great to reward them for all their hard work, I couldn't have done it without them. And I got to do a burnout as well, I had been saving those rears the whole race, I just wanted to get rid of them so it was fun to blow them off at the end."
On passing for the lead at the start:
"It was awesome. There was no way I was going to let him through, that's for sure. I was giving it everything, like I said I got an awesome start which set me up, and we had a fast race car in clean air, so I just had to make no mistakes from that point."
No. 44 Boost Mobile Ford Mustang
James Courtney
Race 29 Quali: 1m15.75s, 5th
Race 30 Quali: 1m15.61s, 4th
Race 29 Finish: 4th
Race 30 Finish: 10th
"We had an electrical issue after the stop, the pit limiter wouldn't release and it took ages to get going. It's disappointing because we left our stop right behind Jamie (Whincup) and after this morning's race we were hoping for a good result. We also had front splitter damage early in the second race, just put a hole in it which gradually got worse and worse as the race went. The good thing is quali was awesome going fifth and fourth, this morning's race was good, and I had a good little scrap with (Bryce) Fullwood in the race to help Lee get by, he was quicker than both of us so I just parked up and waited for him to go through then I followed him, it was good fun and all in all a good weekend."
No. 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang
Jack Le Brocq
Race 29 Quali: 1m15.90s, 14th
Race 30 Quali: 1m15.95s, 17th
Race 29 Finish: 13th
Race 30 Finish: 19th
"Tough day for us. Not much really went our way today, we couldn't quite get the tyre to work in quali so we started down the back and that never ends well. We just needed to find some quali pace, our race car was pretty good but when you start where we did it's hard to do much with it, especially when you end up being the pinball in those scraps. We'll move on to Bathurst and have a crack, but congrats to Cam on the win, it's great for the team."
Tim Edwards, Team Principal
"We're really excited for Cam, we knew it was a matter of time, and for him to finally get one is great for him and great for the team. To put that with two thirds, it's another great all around weekend from him and a well-deserved win. Our race cars were good all around this weekend which is promising, Lee and Jack just struggled to get the green tyre to come alive in quali which set them back, but we'll have a look at over the next couple weeks. But there's no better way to head into Bathurst than on a win, it's certainly a big boost for the team heading into the biggest race of the year."
