Bathurst fire burning for Moffat after near misses
Supercars
06 Sep
Waters and Moffat finished second in '21, and third in '22
Moffat finished second with Nissan in '14, the last time Tickford won Bathurst
Tickford tested at Winton on Tuesday
Near-misses at Mount Panorama have kept James Moffat’s fire burning as he aims to break his Bathurst duck alongside Cam Waters.
Waters and Moffat will share the #6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for a third season — except this year, they will have a pre-Bathurst enduro to ready for the Mountain.
The Repco Supercars Championship field will next weekend tackle the Penrite Oil Sandown 500, which is the first pre-Bathurst enduro since 2018.
In the years since, Waters has finished on the Bathurst podium three times, the last two coming with Moffat, who also has three Bathurst trophies to his name.
Moffat finished runner-up in the dramatic 2014 race, was second with Waters in 2021, and raced to third last year despite being turned at The Cutting by Brodie Kostecki.
In three Bathurst podium runs, Moffat has missed victory by a combined 13.7s. Only five drivers — Brad Jones, Warren Luff, Cameron McConville (six each), Glenn Seton and James Courtney (three each) — have more Bathurst podiums without a win.
For Moffat, who tested with Waters and Tickford Racing at Winton Motor Raceway on Tuesday, the motivation is well and truly there to chase Bathurst glory.
“I’ve been on the podium the last two years, 2021 and 2022,” the second-generation driver told Supercars.com.
“We’ve been close, but not close enough.
“That keeps the fire burning, and that’s the reason why I keep coming back, at least, to try and get on that top step.
“Hopefully we’ve got a good chance this year.”
Waters is one particular driver keen for the first Sandown 500 since 2019, given he won the race in 2017.
The Tickford driver ended his podium drought at the OTR SuperSprint last month, and claimed Bathurst pole last year.
“I’ve missed it, personally, and obviously I won it back in ’17,” Waters told Supercars.com of the Sandown 500.
“I’ve got pretty good memories there, it’s a track that I love. Its cool to be teaming up with Moff, and hopefully we can go for a win.
“Reliability will be a big thing, making sure you’re there at the end of the race.
“The car’s been fast over one lap — race pace, we’re working on it, we’re getting it better. But you need to execute and get everything right.”
Supercars will hit the track for practice at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on Friday September 15.
This year's Repco Bathurst 1000 will be held on October 5-8.
