It’d sound a little bit unusual to recommend that one of many winners from the Supercars races at Albert Park final weekend was Cameron Waters.
In spite of everything, his clear sweep at Sydney Motorsport Park final month marked Waters as the driving force to beat to the championship. Three poles, three wins and three quickest laps within the three races is an achievement hardly ever seen in a sequence like Supercars, the place the vehicles are very comparable technically.
Added to that, the three races that had been accomplished on the Australian Grand Prix venue had been received by three completely different drivers, and never one among them was Waters. So the helpful factors lead the Tickford Ford Mustang driver carried into Melbourne evaporated within the warmth and he now sits seven factors in arrears of the brand new factors chief and defending Supercars champion, Triple Eight’s Will Brown.
Solely 5 drivers scored extra factors than Waters did, and his outcomes had been sixth, sixth and eighth within the three races. Then again, Brown completed these contests second, third and first. However contemplating how Waters achieved these outcomes that he did, it was undoubtedly a constructive weekend.
Waters needed to scratch and battle his manner ahead in two of these races, after qualifying twenty second and nineteenth in races one and three, whereas Brown began from second for every of these.
Then the race which may have tipped the scales in Waters’s favour on Sunday was deserted because of the inclement Melbourne climate; he would have began from fifth whereas Brown, after a qualifying catastrophe after which a three-place grid penalty for a driving infraction, was buried again in twenty second on the grid. When the officers took the choice to not begin the race, Brown’s smile would have been broad, particularly since at that specific second, Melbourne’s fickle Sunday climate was not really that horrible…
It might be harsh to recommend that Brown was fortunate to carry on to his factors lead however, on this event, fortune leaned his manner.
Brown could not have left Melbourne with the factors lead had the fourth race been held
Photograph by: Edge Photographics
These two aside, there was a lot to notice on the grand prix circuit. Seven qualifying periods into a protracted season, solely two drivers have scored pole positions, the three Waters grabbed in Sydney trumped by Broc Feeney’s 4 in Melbourne. This show as soon as once more emphasised that the Triple Eight teenager actually is one thing particular across the sweeping grand prix monitor.
Likewise, Matt Stone Racing continued its infatuation with the venue. Final 12 months Nick Percat scored the workforce a win in his Chevrolet Camaro; this time round he was on the rostrum twice, a statistic that will have seemed exceptional if not for the truth that his second place on Friday got here behind his MSR team-mate Cam Hill.
The Canberra driver’s breakthrough victory seemed totally composed, and Percat could have received for the workforce once more on Saturday had his energy steering not pale then surrendered within the stifling Melbourne warmth. Percat did what he may to wrestle the automobile to 3rd place, utilizing his knees to leverage the ultra-heavy steering over the ultimate lap. He would have been grateful for 2 issues; that two of the final three corners are right-handers so he may deploy his left knee to the steering wheel, and that his 6’3” top allowed him to do this.
Brodie Kostecki was one of the best of the remainder (and of the Mustang drivers) for Dick Johnson Racing. No matter it’s about Albert Park, it simply doesn’t go well with a Ford. The final 15 Supercars races across the lakeside circuit have been received by both Holdens or Chevrolets; to seek out the final Ford winner, it’s a must to go all the best way again to 2019, when Scott McLaughlin received for what was then DJR Crew Penske forward of Tickford Racing’s Chaz Mostert.
Because the vehicles and gear sail the Tasman Sea to New Zealand, the bitumen patchwork of Taupo Motorsport Park awaits. Waters and Brown will likely be trying ahead to a way more simple weekend, and everyone seems to be hopeful of cool however wonderful climate.
On this article
Phil Branagan
Supercars
Cameron Waters
Tickford Racing
Be the primary to know and subscribe for real-time information e mail updates on these matters
Subscribe to news alerts