Cam Waters consolidated on a solid Saturday to win the 18th and final Sprint race of the 2024 Supercars season at Symmons Plains on Sunday.
The Tickford Ford Mustang driver started second on the grid and took advantage of an error by team-mate Thomas Randle on the opening lap when Randle, who earlier in the day became the ninth polesitter of the 2024 season, made a small mistake at Turn 4 and allowed Waters through.
That was all the advantage he needed, especially when there was a Safety Car on lap seven that forced Randle to wait for his tyres and lose a spot to Will Brown (Triple Eight Chevrolet Camaro).
“So happy to get the win,” said Waters after his 6.34s victory.
“Tommy made a little mistake at Turn 4, gutted for him. I just tried to maintain the gap, not sure what happened. We haven’t been good on the Super Soft [tyre] and yesterday I didn’t maximise it.”
Brown, who started from fourth on the grid, was under pressure from Randle in the second half of the race and the two cars made contact twice, which resulted in Randle dropping a place to fourth, when Broc Feeney (Triple Eight) took advantage.
Then with five laps to run Randle tapped Feeney into a spin at Turn 4, dropping them to sixth and 16th respectively, though a 15-second penalty further dropped Randle to a lowly 18th at the flag.
Randle was gutted after the race and went to the Triple Eight garage to apologise to Feeney over the clash, only to be barred from entering by team manager Mark Dutton.
“I over anticipated the grip at Turn 4,” Randle admitted. “I am gutted over what happened late in the race, that was my fault. It doesn’t feel real that that happened.”
In third, and taking his first podium of the season, came the Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet of Bryce Fullwood, who capitalised on the chaos unfolding in front of him, but showed consistent speed and favourable tyre wear.
Chaz Mostert, who started 11th, moved smartly through the field to take fourth place in the Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford. He missed advancing through to the final part of qualifying by 0.04s, but once again his Mustang showed real race pace over the 55-lap race.
Jack Le Brocq took fifth on a tough day for Erebus Motorsport ahead of Andre Heimgartner (Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet) and another driver to make a strong recovery in the race, Nick Percat. The Saturday race winner started 24th and last in the Matt Stone Racing Chevrolet after a qualifying mix-up but drove through the pack and stayed clean to take seventh.
As a result Brown now holds a 81-point lead in the championship, 1980 points to Mostert’s 1899. Feeney is in third place on 1782 ahead of Waters (1630), Matt Payne (1419) and Percat (1368).
“I flat spotted a front-right on the first lap and I was hurting towards the end,” said Brown after extending his championship lead.
“It sucks for Broc but it’s great to be back on the podium. I just didn’t have enough for Cam today.”
After the final sprint race of the season, the teams now turn to the opening two-driver endurance race, the Sandown 500 on 14-15 September.
