MOTORSPORT: Waters monsters Winton

Anyone who beats Shane van Gisbergen in a fair fight deserves Supercars kudos and Cam Waters did it twice at Winton in rural Victoria during round five of the 2022 Repco Supercars Championship over the weekend.

He won the first and last races in a sprint triple-header, and only conceded a single spot to the championship leader in the second, for his best weekend of the 2022 season in his Monster Energy Ford Mustang.

David Reynolds continued his rapid move up from the midfield in an improving Mustang from the Grove Racing Squad, bagging a pair of podium places as his Penrite teammate Lee Holdsworth also raced solidly in the top 10 with a best of fourth. The pair bagged the best points haul of any team over the weekend.

The other podium finisher at Winton was Andre Heimgartner, who survived a last-minute brake drama in his Commodore that saw his BJR crew bleeding the system on the grid for the last race.

“You know you’ve earned it when you can beat Shane,” said Waters.

“It's been a massive weekend for us. The car was speedy and we got it quicker and quicker. This is the first weekend we’ve been able to back it up like that.”

Winton is the home track for Waters and the Tickford team but has never been a good one for van Gisbergen, although he also showed surprising patience as – after attempting an unsuccessful last-lap lunge at Waters on Saturday – he settled for second on Sunday afternoon.

“I’ve been conflicted this weekend. The old Shane would have fired it in, whacked him [Waters] in the B-Pillar, and then argued about it later,” said van Gisbergen.

Instead, he calculated the points he might lose – after adding extras with the fastest lap time – and followed the Mustang driver to the final flag in his Red Bull Commodore.

“It’s good to push each other and go better and better. I’m a bit gutted to be second for the weekend but I’m still happy.

“I’m happy to have scored good points against the guys I’m racing in the championship.”

His margin over second-placed Anton De Pasquale has blown out to 281 points after the Shell Mustang drivers failed to fire at Winton. De Pasquale was never a threat for the podium and ran at the back of the top 10, while Will Davison was even further back.

The championship now heads to Darwin, where van Gisbergen admits he does not enjoy the heat, but before the resumption of the Supercars series he is heading to the Le Mans 24-Hour race where he will be driving a Ferrari in his first start at the French sports car classic.

Race 1 – 36 laps

Race 2 – 36 laps

Race 3 – 36 laps

Championship points:

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