Waters wins ahead of chaotic podium battle in Tasmania

Waters led from the hairpin on the opening lap to the flag thanks to a controlled drive in clear air.

He spent much of the race with both Will Brown and Thomas Randle not far behind, but was able to pull clear when the battle for second took a spectacular turn 11 laps from home.

Randle ended up making contact with both Triple Eight cars, Brown surviving his run-in with the Castrol Mustang to finish second.

Broc Feeney was knocked back to 15th after his contact with Randle, opening the door for Bryce Fullwood to score a second-career podium.

It was the Tickford cars that held the early advantage, although polesitter Randle didn’t enjoy fresh air for long.

While he could keep Waters at bay through the first three corners, a mistake at the hairpin on the first lap led to their positions being reversed.

Behind the Tickford pair it was initially Brown, David Reynolds and Brodie Kostecki, with the reigning champion piling the pressure on the Team 18 Camaro ahead of him.

On Lap 7 that battle boiled over when Kostecki tipped Reynolds into a spin while trying to sneak underneath at the hairpin.

The first bp pulse Safety Car is released for the weekend!

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The subsequent safety car sent the pit lane into chaos as the entire field took its mandatory service.

The double stack helped Brown jump Randle to slot into second, while Kostecki’s day got even worse when he was released directly into the path of Mark Winterbottom.

The #1 Erebus car required repairs before heading back out, Kostecki picking up penalties for Waters wins as Randle finds trouble in Tassie finalethe Reynolds clash, the unsafe release and for speeding in pit lane.

Waters led Brown and Randle for a handful of green laps after the restart, until rookies Aaron Love and Jaxon Evans clashed on the way out of the last corner.

Love looked to run Evans wide on the change of direction for the first corner, Evans then hitting the wall to prompt a second safety car.

HUGE CRASH 😱

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The race went green again shortly before the midway point, with the top three once again pulling clear of the field.

The order was Waters, Brown and Randle until the final quarter of the race when Brown began to fall back to Randle.

That would lead to a wild battle for the podium places between Randle and the Triple Eight cars, all of which was great news for Waters as he cruised to a 6.3s victory.

Brown managed to hold on to second, although not before the epic battle with Randle and Feeney.

It all started with 11 laps to go when Randle got into the back of Brown at the hairpin. They then ran side by side up the back straight, Brown returning serve at Turn 6 to run Randle wide.

WHAT A BATTLE!

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Once wide of the racing line Randle ended up off the road, allowing Broc Feeney to sweep into third place.

Feeney and Randle then closed back onto Brown in the laps that followed, before a frustrated Randle out-braked himself into the hairpin with five laps to go and sent Feeney into a spin.

That ruled the pair out of the running for the podium, Fullwood sweeping through to take an unlikely podium behind Waters and Brown.

Feeney dropped down to 15th thanks to his spin while Randle was demoted to 18th thanks to a penalty for the Feeney contact.

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For Waters it was a weird mix of post-race emotions as he admitted to feeling sorry for his teammate.

“I’m so happy to get the win,” said Waters.

“I got a good start and so did Thomas. He fought hard for Turn 1, which was fine, and he just made a little mistake at Turn 4 and ran wide.

“I’m gutted for him. He probably should have been on the podium with me.”

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Title contender Chaz Mostert capped off a solid weekend with fourth place ahead of Jack Le Brocq and Andre Heimgartner.

Saturday winner Nick Percat, meanwhile, came from dead last on the grid to finish seventh ahead of Ryan Wood and Mark Winterbottom, who used a two-stop strategy to charge through the field to ninth ahead of Tim Slade.

Brown continues to lead the Supercars championship by 81 points over Mostert, while Feeney is now 198 points in arrears

Results: Race 18, 2024 NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint