Ford driver Cam Waters has described his sixth place in Race 9 of the Perth Supercars event as a strong “Class B” result.

Waters, who won Race 1 of the Gen3 era following the disqualification of the two Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaros at Newcastle, struggled over the Perth weekend, finishing 22nd in Saturday’s Race 7 after starting 19th.

He regrouped to finish eighth and sixth in today’s races after qualifying in 15th and ninth, on a weekend when Chevrolets claimed seven of the nine podium places on offer.

“It was terrible to start with; we really struggled,” the Tickford driver said of his Perth performance.

“We had a set-up direction, which really wasn’t working, and last night we went over everything and put JC’s [James Courtney’s] set-up in overnight.

“It was way different in quali; just, probably didn’t maximise it, but in the race we were speedy and moved forward. Pretty happy with the progress we made; happy that JC [James Courtney] got a podium.

“I think we were second in Class B then, so that was pretty good.”

The challenge in finding the set up saw significant fluctuations in qualifying form, notably that of Shane van Gisbergen, who scored pole for Race 7 yet only managed 9th and 21st in for Races 8 and 9. Similarly, Race 9 pole-sitter Broc Feeney only qualified 21st for Race 8.

“Newcastle, we were pretty speedy – the car was working really nice and loved it,” remarked Waters.

“AGP, it wasn’t working for us, and then the same thing rolling out here until we kind of put a different set-up in. We’ll be back; we’re a good team, we’ve got good drivers, we’ll keep putting our head together and make sure we’re the first Ford. “

The 2022 championship runner-up now heads to Round 4 in Tasmania seventh in the drivers’ standings, 211 points adrift of leader Brodie Kostecki, the third Ford ahead of his three Tickford team-mates.