Bathurst 1000: All the news ahead of the 2022 edition of the Great Race at Mount Panorama
As he prepares for another tilt at the Bathurst 1000 title, Ford star Cameron Waters bristles when one particular topic is raised.
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Ford star Cameron Waters has revealed the hurt of being runner-up at Mount Panorama the past two years is driving his bid to reach the top step at the Bathurst 1000, declaring he was “sick” of talk about finishing second.
As he revealed the off-track diet fuelling his Bathurst campaign this year, Waters said he was determined to put to rest questions about consecutive second-place finishes with his first victory in the Great Race.
Waters finished second to Triple Eight star and runaway championship leader Shane van Gisbergen at Mount Panorama in 2020 and behind the hot pace of Chaz Mostert last year.
Now, the Tickford Racing star is using his results of the past two years as motivation for a breakthrough Bathurst win.
“As good as second (place) is, it kind of hurt a bit because you could see the big trophy there right in front of you,” Waters said.
“But you just use that as motivation to come back stronger and better and as a team.
“That is what we are focusing on, to be honest, putting our best foot forward and making sure we have got a really fast car, make no mistakes and go a little bit better hopefully.
“To be honest, I’m a bit sick of being asked about coming second.
“The best way to stop being asked about it is to go win the thing, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”
Sitting second in the Supercars championship behind van Gisbergen this year, Waters will team with co-driver James Moffat for the second straight year.
Waters started the 2020 race from pole position, but finished just 0.86sec behind the van Gisbergen and Garth Tander pairing.
Last year, Waters admitted he and Moffat didn’t have the pace to match Mostert.
“I guess 2020 we were probably the quickest car and just the way the strategy fell we lost a bit of track position and we were just fighting to get that back all day and just couldn’t get it back in 2020,” Waters said.
“In 2021, we probably weren’t quite as competitive as we were in 2020, we were still fast, probably the third quickest car or second quickest car, but Chaz’s car was very fast.
“So, two different races for us but I think we have learned a bit from both years and (with) what we have learned through the year, we will try and merge it all together and be the quickest car again.”
Waters enters the race in strong form on the back of three consecutive podiums in the previous round at Pukekohe in New Zealand.
“We have got a bit of form on our side. This year we have been the most consistent we have for a long time as a team across all different tracks which is really promising,” Waters said.
“But Bathurst is a different kettle of fish again, but I guess traditionally as a team we have always been pretty competitive there so that is good.
“I think (my driving) has gone to another level this year. We have been the most consistent we have been across the year so that is a real positive.
“We just need to go there and tick all the boxes and hopefully it’s enough.”
Like fellow Supercars driver David Reynolds, Waters has been fuelling his 2022 campaign with a largely “carnivore” diet after being introduced to it earlier in the year.
Waters said the mostly meat-based diet, plus some dairy and fruit, had left him feeling strong.
“I am probably not as hard core as Dave is, but I am probably 70-80 per cent on the carnivore diet,” Waters said.
“I have been feeling really good. I kind of gave it a crack (at the start of the year) then went off it a little for maybe a month then went back on it again.
“It’s against the norm of what everyone else says is good for you, but I’m feeling good. I lost weight on it, felt fitter, just felt better in general.”
Waters expected van Gisbergen, Mostert and the Dick Johnson Racing duo of Will Davison and Anton De Pasquale to be the cars to beat if he was to make it to the top step.
“Shane is going to be fast, he has been the one to beat all year, Chaz has been a little bit up and down, but they were super fast last year at Bathurst so I would expect him to be up there,” Waters said.
“I expect the Shell (DJR) guys to be a bit more competitive this year, the last few years they haven’t really been on it, so I’m sure they will work it out.”
COULD SUPERCARS BE SEEING ONE OF ‘BEST SEASONS OF ALL TIME’?
Shane van Gisbergen’s title defence has been hailed as one of the best Supercars seasons of all-time ahead of his quest for a second Bathurst 1000 crown as he stands on the verge of the winningest year in the sport’s history.
In a commanding 2022 campaign that has left his rivals in his wake after charging to his second Supercars championship last year, the Triple Eight star has elevated his racing to another level this season.
Entering the biggest race of the year at Mount Panorama next week, van Gisbergen is just one victory away from a record-breaking 19th season win.
The 33-year-old has won a record-equalling 18 races from his 29 starts this year, matching former Ford rival Scott McLaughlin’s 2019 benchmark, in Pukekohe earlier this month.
Van Gisbergen is also just one podium away from equalling Supercars great Mark Skaife’s 2000 record of 25 top-three finishes.
With nine wins from his past 11 races, van Gisbergen has opened up a monster 525-point lead in the championship to set himself and Red Bull co-driver Garth Tander up for a major assault on the Great Race.
While Skaife acknowledged it was hard to compare eras, the five-time Supercars champion said van Gisbergen’s season stacked up against the best.
“I would say it’s right up there at the pointy end of one of the best seasons of all time,” Skaife said.
“You have just got to be careful when you make comparisons because there are a lot more races now …. there were times when (Allan) Moffat and (Peter) Brock and Jim Richards and co won a massive amount of races proportionate to the number of races available.
“However, if you put together in the recent past, all the superlatives that we used for Scott McLaughlin when he won the most races in a year ever, we were going ‘Wow’.
“You can’t not go ‘Wow’ when you consider what Shane has done.
“Shane hasn’t dominated qualifying like Scott did so he has probably had to do it a bit harder and sometimes that really tests everybody‘s mettle.
“Given where he has qualified and the number of wins that he has had, it is probably one of, certainly in recent times, one of the best seasons of all time.
“The other part that is important is it’s not just about the number of wins, some of his wins have been extraordinary.”
Such has been van Gisbergen’s dominance, he has won 15 more races than his closest rivals Chaz Mostert, Will Davison and Cameron Waters, who each have three wins this year.
He has already shaded his authoritative 2021 campaign when he had 14 race wins and 23 podiums to add to his 2016 Supercars championship.
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Van Gisbergen joined elite company when he became just the fourth driver in Supercars history to record more than 70 career race wins this year.
He now sits fourth on the all-time list with 72 wins behind his Triple Eight team boss Jamie Whincup (124), Craig Lowndes (110) and Skaife (90).
Seven-time Supercars champion Whincup, van Gisbergen’s teammate up until the end of last year when he retired from full-time driving, said the New Zealand ace’s season was up with the best.
“It’s been as good as we have seen in the championship,” Whincup said.
“The amount of wins he has had …. that record there is the story.
“Although there might be more or less races, there certainly hasn’t been more or less than my era and certainly not Scotty Mc’s era, so he is having an unbelievable year.
“And there is still plenty of water to run under the bridge between now and the second race in Adelaide.
“History would say that he is at the peak of his powers, but we’ve just got to get him to maintain that for as long as possible …. hopefully there is more to come.”
With his massive championship lead, van Gisbergen can potentially clinch back-to-back titles at Mount Panorama with two rounds left on the Gold Coast and at Adelaide this year.
There are 900 points available for the rest of the season, including 300 at Bathurst, so if van Gisbergen is more than 600 points clear of his rivals after the Great Race, the title is his again.
Underlined by his aggressive racing style and canny race craft, his Bathurst co-driver Tander said van Gisbergen’s “relentless consistency” was what made him stand out from his rivals.
“He is always there week in, week out scoring points,” Tander said.
“Whereas his main championship combatants, they might be there for two weeks and then have a bad weekend or their consistency is not the same as Shane.
“Given Shane’s speed and his race craft, he is clearly winning lots of races as well.
“Sitting on the sidelines watching, it has been quite impressive to watch. I know he hates that sort of chat, but the reality is the stats are saying it’s on course to be right up there with a record-breaking season.”
Tander hailed van Gisbergen, who will warm-up for his Bathurst tilt racing in the World Rally Championship event in New Zealand this weekend, as a “freak” for his natural racing ability.
“On the Monday after Pukekohe (this month), I went for a couple of rides with him in his rally car in New Zealand ahead of his WRC race and he’s a freak,” Tander said.
“He had literally just jumped out of the Supercar less than 24 hours ago (after) winning at Pukekohe and then we were sitting in a rally car and he looked like he had been doing it for 10 years.
“He is just one of those guys that has got very good natural ability.”
Watching from afar in the United States where he is now racing in IndyCar, McLaughlin said van Gisbergen had been a “class above” his rivals this year.
“He is just head and heels above at the moment and that’s a testament to him and what he is doing,” McLaughlin said.
“It’s testament to him and massive respect for what he is doing in the sport right now.
“He’s just done a great job. We had some awesome battles but it is good to see him achieving now. He is just in a really good point of his career right now and feels like he’s at one with the car.”
SUPERCARS’ NEXT BIG THING SET TO REPLACE LEGEND
Bathurst 1000 winner David Reynolds locked in his future for the start of Supercars’ Gen3 era next year, saying it was a “no-brainer” to recommit to Grove Racing.
The team announced on Thursday Reynolds had committed to the Ford squad for at least 2023 when the sport will launch its new-generation cars.
Grove Racing also confirmed highly-rated New Zealand teenager Matthew Payne, 19, as the retiring Lee Holdsworth’s replacement to race alongside Reynolds next year.
Reynolds, 37, said he was excited to lead the team into the new Gen3 era.
“I really enjoyed driving for this team and all the crew. It was a no-brainer for me,” the 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner said.
“I thoroughly enjoy working for the Groves, they are really great people and very smart, very passionate. I am the passionate one as well so we have got some stuff in common.
“I don’t really like change, so I’m here for a long time. I really like the Groves, they are awesome people.
“I am really excited about the new cars, I drove the car of the past and now the car of the future, so now we are going to the next stage of Supercars which is the third generation and I’m stoked to figure it all out with the boys and see if we can make our cars faster than everyone else.
“I just want to do them proud and win races and make a good team for them.”
Sitting seventh in the 2022 Supercars standings, Reynolds has had six podium finishes for Grove Racing this year, a significant improvement on his first season with the team when he only had one.
The announcement Reynolds was extending his stint with Grove for a third season coincided with his personal news this week that he and partner Tahan Lew Fatt were welcoming their second child in April next year.
“It’s awesome. I love having my first child, Ryu, so I’d love to do it again because it has just been the best part of my life so far,” Reynolds said.
“I never thought I would be a father and didn’t really care that much about it when you get stuck into career mode and racing, you become quite selfish but this has really broadened my horizon.
“When you are a sportsperson it is quite a selfish game and having kids you realise how selfish you were. It is a good life lesson.”
Winner of the 2017 Bathurst 1000 alongside co-driver Luke Youlden when he was at Erebus, Reynolds, who will team with Matt Campbell this year, was excited to now attack the biggest race of the year.
“The run home to the end of the year is my favourite part of the year, we do the best tracks in Australia and obviously Bathurst 1000 is included in that,” Reynolds said.
“I hope we have a fighting chance but I’ll tell you after practice one.
“As long as your car is fast enough to win and the team makes no mistakes and the driver makes no mistakes over the day, everything is possible.
“It’s the biggest race of the year. I love the whole week, the build-up, the pressure, the qualifying, practice, I enjoy the whole time we are there. It’s the best race of the year.”
Payne, who will team with Holdsworth – last year’s winner alongside Chaz Mostert at Walkinshaw Andretti United – at Bathurst, was excited to have his deal confirmed for his full-time championship debut.
“It’s a nice feeling to announce this prior to heading to Mount Panorama for my first Bathurst 1000,” Payne said.
“I feel ready for Supercars and the learning process that goes with it. Grove Racing is a team that has enormous potential and plenty of upside to succeed.
“The new Gen3 era is going to be exciting, and I can’t wait to hit the track next year but first is Bathurst – Lee and I have a job to do there, as well as my Super2 campaign, which we are still in with a shot of winning in our first year.”
Originally published as Bathurst 1000: All the news ahead of the 2022 edition of the Great Race at Mount Panorama
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