Waters feared worst amid engine gremlins

Cameron Waters was pumped to sneak through into the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout at Bathurst after fearing he might not turn a single lap in qualifying.

Waters’ Monster Energy Mustang was struck down by gremlins upon leaving the pitlane, meaning he missed three-quarters of the 40-minute session.

It did not stop the 25-year-old from making a dash at the end, powering through the rain to be eighth and proceed to the decisive Shootout on Saturday afternoon.

“It was an awesome result,” Waters told Supercars.com.

“For the things that were thrown at us through that session – I went out in pitlane at the start and had a really bad engine misfire issue.

“It took us most of the session to fix it.

“I had three timed laps to work it out and try to do a lap good enough to make the Shootout, so pumped to be able to do it in three laps.

“To be honest there was probably another half a second or more in one slide I had on that lap so it should have been better than what it was, but I’m just glad to make the Shootout.”

Waters praised his crew, having “100 percent” been staring down the barrel of missing the entire session, which would have forced him to start the Great Race from 26th.

“There was one point there where all of the guys were baffled and it wasn’t looking very good,” he said.

“They thought they had fixed it and it wasn’t it, so they had to think about it again, so awesome for them to be able to fix it in that high-pressure situation to get me back out.”

Having been consistently among the quickest drivers in dry practice, Waters is confident he can contend for a higher grid slot in the Shootout, but is unsure if he can knock off Scott McLaughlin.

“I haven’t really run a green tyre lately… so I think there’s a time there,” he said.

“I’m not sure what it is, I’m not sure what Scotty can do, but if the conditions are pretty constant and even, I think we have got a pretty good chance to be up the front somewhere.”

Waters is sharing the #6 Tickford entry with co-driver Michael Caruso.

The Shootout begins 5:05pm on Saturday, following two half-hour practice sessions.