Watch out for Waters. That’s the message from James Moffat who will join the in-form Monster Energy Racing driver in this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000.
That’s established the duo as the most experienced in the Tickford Racing line-up with 20 starts between them.
Waters has been in a strong vein of form of late.
Last year he claimed his first solo Supercars win, wound up second in the standings, qualified on pole position for the Bathurst 1000, and finished second in the 161-lapper with Will Davison.
Waters has already claimed three wins this year, his most in any season yet, and a further four podiums.
With five rounds remaining, he sits third in the drivers’ championship, only behind Red Bull Ampol Racing pair Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup.
For Moffat, joining the 27-year-old when he is at his best bodes well for this year’s Bathurst 1000 campaign.
“Cam is definitely in form and he’s driving as well as he ever has,” Moffat told Speedcafe.com.
“From the outside looking in, it only looks like he’s going to get better, which is worrying for the opposition in my mind.
“Certainly, the team know what they need to do up at Bathurst. They’ve proven they can win that race in the past.
“Having finished second there last year, I know the limited time that I have spent within the team this year, there’s a lot of motivation there to make sure they can try and go one step better this year.
“For me, personally, I think it presents as good an opportunity as I’ve had heading up there,” he added.
“I probably felt like I was in a similar position in 2019 with Chaz heading up there. We all know how that unfolded and finished.
“I’m just looking forward to getting up there and am excited to be driving with Cam.
“This is now my fourth year with the team. I feel like I can fit right in and do the job I need to do and just get on with the business.”
The #6 Ford Mustang hasn’t been without occasional woes in 2021, though Moffat said it’s been encouraging to see how they’ve bounced back.
The double-header in Townsville was notable in that at the first weekend Waters was well off the pace of van Gisbergen, who lapped the Ford pilot in Race 15 on his way to victory.
One weekend later, Waters came out and won two of the three races.
“Just thinking about how they turned things around from Townsville one to Townsville two, even though I’ve got a bit of a vested interest in what you’re looking at, you try and take that hat off and that was hugely impressive what they were able to do in terms of turning around their competitiveness,” said Moffat.
“I feel like their competitiveness has been there all year. Cam has been qualifying very strongly. They’ve had a bit of their battles with some race pace and tyre degradation, but a lot of that has been on the soft tyre, which is obviously not used at Bathurst.
“Cam was extremely quick up there at the start of the year and everybody knows how quick he was and how quick the team was last year at Bathurst for the 1000.
“I certainly feel like from a package point of view, it should be there or thereabouts. I know the team, like any other team up and down pit lane, is constantly trying to improve their performance. That’s no different from what I’ve seen at Tickford.
“I’m keen to get up there. I’m not focused on what the result could be, just really trying to focus on what I can control and execute as well as we can. Hopefully we’re in the mix, that’d be nice. We all know what we’re going there to try and achieve.”
This year’s Bathurst 1000 is slated for November 30-December 5.
Before then, the Supercars season will resume this weekend for the first of four events at Sydney Motorsport Park.
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