The secret behind Waters' form reversal

Bolting on James Courtney’s set-up proved key to Cam Waters’ form reversal at the Bosch Power Tools Perth SuperSprint.

Waters encountered a “terrible” start to the weekend, clocking just the 22nd best time in Friday practice.

Saturday wasn’t much better, Waters finishing 22nd after starting 19th and being turned around by Andre Heimgartner.

Tickford Racing teammate Courtney was fifth in Saturday’s race, and Waters’ crew opted to pursue his set-up.

It worked — in the races at least — as Waters vaulted from 15th to eighth in Race 8, and ninth to sixth in the finale.

Courtney finished third in Sunday's first sprint behind Will Brown and Brodie Kostecki, before coming home ninth in the final race, which was won by Broc Feeney.

“It was terrible to start with,” he said after Sunday’s finale.

“We had a set-up direction which wasn’t working.

“Last night [Saturday] we went over everything and put JC’s set-up in overnight.

“It was way different in quali, just didn't maximise it in the races, we were speedy and moved forward.

“Pretty happy with the progress we made, happy that JC got a podium.”

It comes after Waters toiled at Albert Park, where he again missed the window with a qualifying car.

There, Courtney was again the quickest of the Tickford quartet, but his pace was overshadowed by his Saturday fire.

Waters reiterated that the Gen3 cars are a greater challenge to place in a set-up window, but remained committed to having his team perform as Ford’s benchmark squad.

“Not a challenge, it’s definitely different,” he said of the Gen3 cars.

“You’ll find this year teams will find set-up windows, and the car will work.

“Newcastle, we were pretty speedy, the car was working really nice. AGP it wasn’t working for us, and the same thing rolling out here until we put a different set-up in.

“We’ll be back, we’re a good team, we’re good drivers, we’ll keep putting our heads together and make sure we’re the first Fords.”

Waters is seventh in the championship heading to the next round at Symmons Plains Raceway, where he scored a pole last year.

The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint on May 19-21.

Tickets for the event are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.