Waters has carved out a reputation as one of the category’s premier qualifiers over the last decade, scoring 32 pole positions and 18 race wins.
The form has been flipped in 2026 with Waters failing to qualify inside the top five for any of the first 13 races.
He and teammate Thomas Randle qualified eighth or worse for all six races across the two-event New Zealand swing, leaving their season averages at 10.6 and 11.8 respectively.
Race pace though has been strong, highlighted by Waters’ remarkable run from a pit lane start to fifth in the Christchurch finale.
Waters told MotorRacing 360 on Wednesday night that the season has been a “rollercoaster” to date and improving qualifying speed is the top priority.
“There’s definitely things that where we’re ticking off the list and we’re going to work it out eventually,” he said.
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“But in quali, our car is just not producing the grip as it should, where we get into race trim and it’s quite good.
“We’re still a little bit off, but we’re a lot closer.
“We will work it out, we’re a good team. It’s just going to take a little bit of time. We’ll get there.”
Tickford led the teams’ championship after Albert Park but slid to fourth by the end of Christchurch.
Waters is currently fourth in the drivers’ standings with teammate Randle 12th.
“It was awesome to be leading the teams’ championship for a few rounds,” he said.
“Obviously we went to New Zealand, we weren’t that strong, and we obviously dropped a few positions.
“But there’s not a lot of points in it, so we just had to kind of get our cars back to where they need to be and be a little bit quicker and that’ll sort itself out.
“The [drivers’] championship, with the finals, it’s wide open, you just have to be strong at the end of the year.
“I’d rather be not strong now and still be in the mix and be strong at the end of the year.”
Waters will be on track at Winton next Friday shaking down a new Ford Mustang ahead of its debut at the Tasmania Super440 on May 22-24.
He started the 2026 campaign in the team’s wildcard chassis following the same of his previous race car to Scott Taylor.
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