Supercars: Cam Waters pips Broc Feeney in extraordinary finish at Sydney Motorsport Park
Supercars’ qualifying king Cam Waters has pipped Broc Feeney on the line in one of the competition’s most extraordinary finishes to maintain his dominance at Sydney.
Ford star Cam Waters produced an “epic” finish to edge past Broc Feeney just metres from the finish line to continue his perfect start to the 2025 Supercars championship in a thriller under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Converting from pole for the second night in a row, the Tickford Racing star mowed down Feeney on the main straight after a late-race battle with the Triple Eight young gun and his championship-winning teammate Will Brown.
In a dramatic finish to the second race of the season, Waters hunted Feeney to make up a seven second gap late in the race before the pair tangled at turn four with four laps to go.
Waters turned Feeney as he tried to overtake the Camaro driver before he tried to redress the move, allowing Brown to get into the three-way battle.
Stewards noted the three-way tussle between the Waters and the two Red Bull cars, but the trio was cleared to ‘play on’.
Feeney emerged with the lead after the incident before Waters mowed him down on the main straight as they raced to the finish line, sending the Tickford garage wild.
Brown finished third behind Waters and Feeney to claim his 13th consecutive podium.
Waters’ hot start to the season has given him a 37-point lead over Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert, who was fourth, in the championship standings.
It was another blow for Feeney after his race on Friday night was ruined after he suffered a puncture when he had been sitting second behind race winner Waters.
Waters said it had been an “epic” finish to the race.
“That was absolutely awesome, I had so much fun then,” Waters said.
“Obviously we lost the track position with our first pit stop, but we fought hard,we never gave up. I had a crack on Broc and gave it back to him and a few tactics getting played, but I gave it my all and it was an epic finish.
“Turn four, I sent it in there pretty hard, locked the front and then I think Broc realised I had the front locked and he turned in and that’s OK. It was probably more my fault than his.
“I gave the spot back as best I could and then all the tactics started. It was just game on from then on and I had so much fun
“It was awesome to get the win and get this Ford Mustang into P1.”
Feeney said there was nothing he could do to hold off Waters at the finish.
“It’s pretty hard racing out there, I obviously got turned with about five or so laps to go and then Will got caught up in the middle of it and then the three of us were racing,” Feeney said.
“I was obviously struggling there at the end … Cam was able to slip-stream up past me at the end so nothing I could do down the straight there.
“We are obviously allowed to race a little bit harder this year so I look forward to it.”
In a drama-packed start to the race, Ryan Wood stalled his car on the start line, Feeney was all over Waters, while rookie Kai Allen was slapped with a 15-second time penalty for making contact with Aaron Love on the opening lap and forced to pit lane for repairs.
WOW! There's contact for the lead but Race Control has let it play out!
— Supercars (@supercars) February 22, 2025
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This time Love was on the receiving end after he was earlier fined and hit with a four-spot grid penalty for crashing into teammate James Courtney in a bizarre qualifying incident.
Just as Waters was starting to open the gap on Feeney, an early safety car was deployed after Richie Stanaway’s PremiAir Racing Camaro caught fire under the engine.
It was the second time this week PremiAir cars have been in flames after James Golding’s car caught fire during testing at SMP on Wednesday.
The safety car prompted a flurry of pit stops, with Feeney emerging from pit lane with the race lead ahead of Waters, who was held up by Brown as he was trying to exit.
There was more drama when the race restarted as Cooper Murray turned Will Davison and was slapped with a 15-second penalty for the incident.
A fire underneath Richie Stanaway's #62 has brought out the first bp pulse Safety Car 🔥
— Supercars (@supercars) February 22, 2025
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For the next 20 laps, Waters hunted Feeney, who was the first of the lead pair to take his second pit stop.
Waters stayed out for another four laps, but rejoined the field just behind Brown, who passed him just as he was exiting pit lane.
On fresher tyres, it only took Waters a few laps to reel in Brown and was then left with a seven-second gap to make up on Feeney.
But no one could have predicted the drama that would unfold in the closing laps between the lead trio.
It was a busy night for the stewards with a string of penalties handed out for pit lane and driving infringements.
WATERS CLAIMS POLE FOR SECOND RACE
Supercars’ qualifying king Cam Waters has continued his hot pace to claim back-to-back poles and put himself in prime position to chase consecutive wins to start the season at Sydney Motorsport Park.
After converting from pole to win the first sprint race of the 2025 season on Friday night, the Tickford Racing star put his Mustang on the front row of the grid again for Saturday night’s 52-lap battle with a blistering top-10 shootout lap.
Triple Eight young gun Broc Feeney had set the fastest time with his penultimate shootout lap, before Waters eclipsed it with his scorching 1:29.136 effort.
Waters and Feeney will start on the front row ahead of Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert and Waters’ Tickford teammate Thomas Randle.
After winning the opening race by 17 seconds, Waters said he could not fault the pace of his car.
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“So far so good. One lap pace, the car is awesome to drive,” Waters said.
“I knew I had a fast car then, I just had to hit all my marks, don’t hit any mistakes and I knew I would have been in the mix for sure.
“I knew it (the car) was fairly good, I didn’t know it was this good. Last night was awesome it was cool to have a race like that
“We know we’ve got fast cars, it was quick again then and it’s really good on its tyres.”
Defending Supercars champion Will Brown, Matt Payne, Ryan Wood, Andre Heimgartner, Cameron Hill and Bryce Fullwood made up the rest of the top 10.
Bathurst 1000 and 2023 series champion Brodie Kostecki was the big name to miss out on the top 10 and will start from 16th for Saturday night’s second race.
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