Monster Energy Mustang’s Cameron Waters the turnaround driver of the weekend

He was hit by rotten luck on day one and had to drive through some of the worst pain he had known on day two — but Cameron Waters leaves Adelaide with a smile.

Scott McLaughlin celebrates winning Race 2 of the Superloop Adelaide 500 flanked by Cam Waters and Shane van Gisbergen. Picture: Brenton Edwards/AAP

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It was the feel-good redemption story of the weekend as Cameron Waters made up for a rotten Race 1 at the Superloop Adelaide 500 with a podium finish in Race 2 on Sunday.

His second placing went some way to make up for his frustrating fate on day one, when his cool suit failed to work and he was forced to return to the pits.

He lost valuable time and finished second last.

But Waters took out the frustration on the track with his first podium finish since 2017.

A testing year in 2018 and a disheartening start to 2019 turned in one day.

Waters did a fine job in holding out Shane van Gisbergen, who collected two third placings over the weekend and helped Red Bull to the top of the team standings.

But it was no cake walk for Waters.

The pain he had endured in his feet had been among the worst he had experienced, courtesy of the cool suit failure the day before.

Cameron Waters drives the Monster Energy Racing Ford Mustang during the Adelaide 500 Race 2. Picture: Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images

“The heat wasn’t a problem today, which was a nice change, but because I burned them (his feet) yesterday every I pressed the brake there was a fair bit of pain.

“Towards the end it was probably holding me back more than my tyres.

“I was just kind of starting to feel a bit sick. But I got through. Happy now.

“I was in a fair bit of pain. I kept asking, ‘How many laps to go?’

“Then I’d drive a few and ask again and just had a few mental strategies to get through it.

“Shane was coming at me pretty hard and I knew I had to be strong and luckily my car got through those parts.”

As he assessed his weekend, he had a wry smile at how different the two days had panned our for him in his Monster Energy Mustang.

Not that either day had been easy.

“It’s a little bit of redemption,” Waters said. “Yesterday we had good pace.

“I don’t know if we had the pace for the podium but we’ve definitely made some improvements overnight.

“It does make up for it a little bit.”

Waters’ podium will bring fresh optimism to Tickford Racing, which was disappointed with its season in 2018.

Waters finished 16th in last year’s championship.

“We’ve had structure changes and we’ve done a lot with the cars underneath them with suspension and all that other stuff,” Waters said. “Some will say it’s just the Mustang, but it’s all the other stuff in the back room that has made a step forward.

“I think there’s a lot more to come from us.”