Waters leads Tickford 1-2 in Gold Coast opener

Waters was in dominant form aboard the Monster Energy Mustang as he commanded the race from pole position, eventually leading home Randle and Triple Eight’s Broc Feeney.

Championship leader Brown salvaged seventh from 11th on the grid following a crash in qualifying, meaning he retains a marginally reduced 171-point advantage over Feeney in the standings.

Waters was able to edge out to an early lead as fellow front-row starter Richie Stanaway struggled to match the front-running pace.

Stanaway held on for nine laps before Mostert, Golding and Feeney demoted the Grove Racing driver on consecutive laps.

Randle had more trouble finding a way around the Kiwi, at one stage nudging Stanaway wide at Turn 4 before opting to redress the position.

The Castrol Ford eventually found a way by to set off after Golding and Feeney, who were also engaged in a tense battle that included a hair-raising side-by-side moment at the beach chicane.

Feeney and Randle pitted together on lap 25. PremiAir covered with Golding a lap later, but a disastrous left-rear tyre change cost bulk time and put him out of contention.

Leaders Waters and Mostert waited until lap 33 to pit for the first time. Mostert entered the lane six seconds behind his rival but lost considerable time with what turned out to be an electronic issue.

Waters rejoined narrowly ahead of Feeney and Randle, while Mostert was further back – battling with a gear position sensor issue that impacted his pitlane speed limiter and shift cut.

Randle made a strong move on Feeney and briefly shadowed Waters, before the Monster entry’s younger tyres allowed Waters to pull clear.

Mostert chomped through Feeney and Randle in the next phase of the race, before time lost with the electronic issue in his second stop shuffled him outside the top 10.

Waters waited until lap 65 to complete his second and last stop, rejoining with a comfortable 11s lead over Randle and able to control the race to the finish, taking the flag 9.4s clear.

Feeney was third despite appearing to lose time in his pit stops with what was believed to be a fuel flow issue, recovering to relieve Matt Payne of the final podium spot 10 laps from the finish.

Payne was fourth from Brodie Kostecki, David Reynolds, Brown, Andre Heimgartner, Stanaway and a recovering Mostert, who climbed back into the 10 with a forceful move on Anton De Pasquale.

Golding was 16th after his costly pitstop issue and over a minute from the winner.

The lack of Safety Cars – and a 100 percent finishing rate for the first time in a Gold Coast Supercars race – came despite incidents that delayed several runners.

Jack Le Brocq and Ryan Wood found trouble in separate scrapes on the opening lap, while Cam Hill and Bryce Fullwood later found the barriers at Turn 3 and 12 respectively.

The Gold Coast 500 will conclude on Sunday with another round of qualifying, a Top 10 Shootout and 250km race.