Supercars 2024: All the news, results and analysis from the Gold Coast 500
Cam Waters has produced a sensational drive at the unforgiving Surfers Paradise street circuit, converting pole position into victory in race 21 of the Supercars season.
Cam Waters is the king of Surfers Paradise once again after a masterful drive from pole to claim the opening race of the Gold Coast 500.
In a repeat performance of last year’s Saturday stunner, the Tickford star conquered the concrete canyon for a second time to take the chequered flag ahead of teammate Thomas Randle and the Red Bull of Broc Feeney.
It marked the first Tickford 1-2 since Chaz Mostert led Waters home at the same track in 2017.
Waters signaled he was the man to beat when he laid down an impressive flying lap in the Top Ten Shootout and delivered as such in the 250km race to record a 15th career victory and fourth of 2024.
The Monster Mustang never truly looked challenged on the streets of Surfers Paradise, with Waters driving into the sunset as his fellow Supercars title challengers battled for the podium placings.
Cam Waters wins race 21 at the Gold Coast 500 ðŸ
— Fox Motorsport (@Fox_Motorsport) October 26, 2024
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📲 RACE CENTRE https://t.co/4X0lm98iL9â°â°#RepcoSCpic.twitter.com/Il0qBvcI03
By the time he exited the pits for the second and final time, Waters held a 12-second advantage – almost the whole length of the main straight – to Randle and kept that cushy margin to the finish.
“What a day and what a weekend so far. This thing has been an absolute rocket ship all weekend and even Tommy’s car as well so massive credit to the boys and girls at Tickford for giving us some jets,” Waters said.
“It was a lot cruiser win this year than last year – I didn’t have Shane (van Gisbergen) breathing down my throat this year.”
While mathematically still in title contention entering the penultimate round of the season, Waters was the forgotten man in the Gold Coast 500 build-up as talk centred on championship leader Will Brown and his two closest challengers, Feeney and Mostert.
Brown salvaged an earlier qualifying blunder - where he put his Red Bull in the wall at turn 11 and missed the Top Ten Shootout – to rise from 11th at race start into seventh at the chequered flag, minimizing the damage to his championship lead which now stands at 171 points following Feeney’s podium.
Brown’s error in qualifying opened the door for Feeney and Mostert to peg back crucial championship points and the pair parked themselves on the second row of the grid after the Top Ten Shootout.
Mostert, who entered the round 225 points behind Brown in the championship, looked a shoe-in for second after blitzing past Richie Stanway on lap nine and keeping a two-second gap to Waters.
But when the Walkinshaw Andretti ace entered the pits he suffered a suspected electrical issue which forced him to crawl into the pit box.
Mostert lost about six seconds due to the slow pit transit on his first stop and even more when he returned on lap 59, plummeting from second to 11th.
He ultimately crossed the line in 10th, conceding a further 18 points to Brown in the championship.
Feeney meanwhile broke his Gold Coast duck with an impressive podium performance after surviving a slow second pit stop of his own.
A recurring fuel flow issue extended Feeney’s second stop and meant he exited the pits on lap 56 behind Matt Payne, but he managed to pass the Grove Racing driver with a stunning move at turn four to clinch third at his home track.“I thought I got fourth – I didn’t even know,” Feeney revealed.
“I thought Chaz was still in the mix. I don’t know how I missed that – I’m sure they told me, I was just really focused on trying to pass people.”
Feeney lamented a slow second stint and the fuel flow issue that ruined his chance at challenge Waters for the top step of the podium.
“My third stint, if I could take that forward into three stints (on Sunday) I’d be pretty happy,” he said.
“I’m not really sure what went wrong in the second stint, we just really struggled for pace out there.
“I can’t speak for everyone but it (the fuel flow issue) seems very up and down and we don’t really know why. Some races it’s quite good – today it wasn’t.”
Waters became the 12th driver to claim multiple victories at Surfers Paradise. If he can repeat the effort in Sunday’s return race, he will join Jamie Whincup and van Gisbergen (six wins) as the only drivers to taste victory at Surfers Paradise more than twice.
WATERS EARNS POLE
Tickford star Cam Waters will start on pole for Saturday’s Gold Coast 500 after edging out Richie Stanway and Chaz Mostert in the Top Ten Shootout.
Waters kept his faint Supercars title hopes alive with a masterful lap of the Surfers Paradise street circuit, clinching his sixth pole position of the season and 28th of his career.
His 1:11.058 was enough to take ownership of the first row of the grid and he will fancy his chances of converting the pole into a victory, just as he did here last year.
Earlier, the Supercars title fight was blown wide open when championship leader Will Brown put his Red Bull into the wall at turn 11 during qualifying and was scrubbed out of the Top Ten Shootout contention.
Brown will start 11th for the race – a precarious position to be in given the propensity for chaos in the concrete canyon of Surfers Paradise.
Meanwhile the chasing pack are all up the front, headed by fourth-ranked Waters who will have championship No.3 Chaz Mostert and No.2 Broc Feeney right behind him on the second row of the grid.
Feeney and Mostert in particular will be eager to place themselves on the podium and bridge the gap to Brown in the championship battle with a further three races to go after Saturday’s 85-lapper.
Friday’s practice pace setter Thomas Randle will start fifth on the grid, followed by James Golding, James Courtney, David Reynolds and Matt Payne.
Reigning champion Brodie Kostecki will start 10th after his flying lap was struck from contention due to a kerb strike at turn eight.
The decision to turn off the kerb sensors at turns two and nine made life much easier for drivers after Friday’s practice was plagued by more than 300 kerb strikes across the two sessions.
QUALIFYING CRASH BLOWS CHAMPIONSHIP RACE WIDE OPEN
The Supercars championship race has been blown wide open after title leader Will Brown crashed out in qualifying on Saturday morning.
Brown locked his rear wheels entering turn 11 and spun into the barriers, bringing out a red flag and ending the session early.
The championship leader sat in seventh at the time of the crash but because he was the one to bring out the red flag, his lap was scrubbed out meaning he will miss the top 10 shootout in the afternoon.
It means Brown will start from 11th on the grid for Saturday’s race, leaving him vulnerable on a street circuit known to cause chaos.
“I’ve been locking rears the last two sessions and just thought I’d get a turn but didn’t,” Brown said.
“Unfortunately I took a couple of other cars out of their quali. Sorry to them. These things happen, it’s Gold Coast. These things happen and we’ll press on.”
Red Bull is now in a race against the clock to get Brown’s Camaro patched up for the 85-lapper this afternoon.
THIS IS CHAMPIONSHIP-CHANGING STUFF 🤯#RepcoSC#Supercarspic.twitter.com/UoOEjhiyBe
— Supercars (@supercars) October 26, 2024
Tim Slade and Nick Percat were also caught up in the chaos when they arrived at the corner and were unable to avoid Brown’s Red Bull.
Richie Stanway was the surprise timesheet topper after the late red flag drama, clocking a 1:10.444 to edge out Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters.
Brown’s teammate and championship contender Broc Feeney put himself into fifth.
It means Brown is the only driver still in title contention who will not feature in the top 10 shootout.
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