Waters holds off van Gisbergen to win Race 11

Cameron Waters has picked up his first win of 2021 after holding off Shane van Gisbergen in Race 11 of the Repco Supercars Championship at The Bend.

Waters had to withstand several laps of pressure from the championship leader, including a genuine attempt at a pass with eight laps to go, to take victory.

The Tickford Racing driver’s triumph completed a sweep of the OTR SuperSprint for Ford courtesy of three different teams, after the Blue Oval had gone winless through the three preceding events of the campaign.

However, there was disappointment for Race 10 victor Anton De Pasquale, who gave up an early lead due to an engine problem and completed only three laps.

With Will Davison finishing third in the other Dick Johnson Racing Mustang and Jamie Whincup fourth, van Gisbergen’s championship lead over the latter has grown to 190 points.

De Pasquale led the field from pole position into Turn 1, where Waters (#6 Monster Energy Mustang) slipped into second spot.

Whincup (#88 ZB Commodore) had made a good start from the outside of the front row and looked a threat to nab first position from the #11 Shell V-Power Mustang but instead slotted into third, ahead of Red Bull Ampol Racing team-mate van Gisbergen (#97 ZB Commodore).

Davison (#17 Shell V-Power Mustang) emerged fifth from Turn 6 after Tim Slade (#3 CoolDrive Mustang) dived at Chaz Mostert (#25 Mobil 1 Appliances Online ZB Commodore) but took both wide.

De Pasquale was 1.2s up on Waters at the end of Lap 2 but ceded the lead 13 corners later and pitted at the next opportunity due to a misfire for Car #11.

Van Gisbergen put an easy move on Whincup for second spot at the start of Lap 4, at which point Waters led by around two seconds, while Davison pitted from fourth on Lap 5.

Whincup still sat third when he took service on Lap 8 and rejoined between Davison and Slade, representing a loss of one spot in effective terms.

The gap between Waters and van Gisbergen was fluctuating, standing at approximately 1.3s when the former pitted for a fresh set of rear tyres on Lap 12 and got out about a second ahead of Davison once up to speed.

Mostert, however, resumed behind Whincup and Slade, having followed the #6 Tickford Racing entry into the lane.

Van Gisbergen kept going, in the nominal race lead, and was still setting personal best lap times until he stopped at the end of Lap 15.

As Triple Eight Race Engineering went to work on Car #97, Waters was resetting the very fastest lap of the race, and he was able to just get ahead of van Gisbergen when they braked for Turn 1 after the latter left the lane.

Mostert overtook Slade in the effective battle for fifth on Lap 16, as van Gisbergen stalked Waters.

The 2020 Bathurst 1000 winner shaped for a move on Lap 17 at Turn 1 but Waters was able to keep him at bay.

Nevertheless, they continued to put distance between themselves and Davison, who still held an effective third spot.

Nick Percat (#8 R&J Batteries ZB Commodore) was last to serve his compulsory pit stop, on Lap 20, restoring Waters to the official race lead, by 0.4s over van Gisbergen.

Davison was about 4.5s further back, ahead of Whincup, Mostert, Slade, Percat, Courtney, Scott Pye (#30 DeWalt ZB Commodore), and Andre Heimgartner (#7 Ned Mustang).

Percat went past Slade on Lap 22 at Turn 6, while van Gisbergen continued to tail Waters.

However, there would be no more changes at the pointy end of the field, with Waters winning again at the scene of his most recent victory, albeit on a different circuit layout.

The margin back to #97 was 0.6963s in the end, with Davison almost six seconds further back.

Waters also held on to the five bonus points for setting the fastest lap, a stark contrast to the day’s earlier race, in which he completed only one lap due to crash damage.

“I’ve got no words,” he said.

“We had a fast car all weekend. We were quick in the wet and then you know what happened in the first race today.

“The boys worked so bloody hard to fix the car, and not just fix it, but give me one that’s capable of winning.

“The boys earnt this one. They gave me a good pit stop and it was up to me.”

Rounding out the top 10 were Whincup, Mostert, Percat, Slade, Courtney, Pye, and Heimgartner, the latter of whom was not sanctioned after early-race contact that sent Mark Winterbottom (#18 Irwin Tools ZB Commodore) spinning.

Winterbottom finished 18th while Garry Jacobson joined De Pasquale as a retirement due to a power steering problem for Team Sydney’s #22 PremiAir ZB Commodore.

The next event is the Winton SuperSprint, on May 29-30.

Results: Race 11, OTR SuperSprint

Fastest lap (bonus): Cameron Waters 1:50.0613, Lap 15

Drivers’ championship

Teams’ championship