Supercars is investigating the cause of a fire that saw Cam Waters’ Ford Mustang engulfed in flames, with the category suggesting that it does not appear to be a the same issue that saw multiple Gen3 Supercars fires earlier this season.

“An investigation into the Car 6 fire incident in Darwin is underway,” a Supercars spokesperson told Speedcafe.

“I got a good start, and coming down the front straight I had a fire in my footwell, and yeah [thought] ‘This isn’t going to be good’,” Waters said.

“The bonnet had like a weird flap into the last corner but I just thought I hit something and then, um yeah, it was on fire down the front straight.

“Then when I got to Turn 1 the engine had shut off and had a long peddle and there was fire everywhere, so at that point I just had to bail and find a fire extinguisher and get it put out.”

There’s no sign that the cause of the fire is a return of the issue that afflicted the Ford Mustangs of Nick Percat and James Courtney, who both suffered in separate ‘thermal incidents’ at the Australian Grand Prix in March.

Those fires were linked to an oil catch-can placement and have been resolved using new venting as well asfireproof paint in all Gen3 Supercars engine bays, both Mustang and Camaro.

Tickford is now in a race against time to have Waters back on track, with a complete front-end required for the #6 Monster Mustang ahead of qualifying tomorrow, which starts at 0930 local time/1000 AEST.