Waters laments costly Race 9 mistake

Cameron Waters has lamented his mid-race error amid a troublesome run to fourth in the OTR SuperSprint opener.

The Tickford Racing driver wrested fourth on the final lap from Nick Percat after Brad Jones Racing dropped the latter into the battle for the podium.

Anton De Pasquale took the final spot on the podium for the race, which was won by Kelly Grove Racing driver Andre Heimgartner.

Waters started seventh for the 24-lap Race 9 at The Bend Motorsport Park, having battled for speed in the wet qualifying session.

WATCH: WATERS’ SCARY TURN 1 MOMENT

However, Waters’ race hit its nadir after a scary moment at Turn 1, with the Monster Energy Mustang pilot forced to avoid hitting Jamie Whincup after locking up.

Waters skipped across the Turn 1 outfield and rejoined, and fought back to miss the podium by less than two seconds.

He cut 16 points out of Shane van Gisbergen’s championship lead, but missing the podium, and avoiding a major accident with Whincup, remained his immediate focus.

“Slicks were coming up to temps still, I thought I had some temp in them,” he said.

“Obviously not, and Jamie broke a bit early, it caught me off guard a little bit.

“The front-left tyre instantly locked, and I didn’t really know which way to go.

“Lucky I decided to go to the left and not the right, otherwise we both would’ve been sitting on the sidelines.

“Lucky to get away with it.”

Waters failed to prise third from De Pasquale prior to Percat joining the party, and after the BJR driver ceded third to the #11 Shell V-Power Racing Team Mustang, it seemed Waters stood little chance of improving on fifth.

WATCH: WATERS FIRES OFF IN PRACTICE

Percat’s final-tour error enabled Waters to pinch fourth, marking the third race in a row the 2017 Sandown 500 winner finished one position short of the podium.

It came after a trying run to the fourth row, with a call to change to a new set of wet tyres in Q3 failing to pay dividends.

“The weather conditions were pretty hectic out there, rain and drying it, we did that a few times,” he said.

“Qualifying was okay, we probably just had the wrong tyres on for that Q3 run.

WATCH: ANDRE THE GIANT: RACE 9 RECAP

“In the race, we had a really speedy car, probably could have ended up on the podium if I didn’t lock a brake and run off.

“Really tricky conditions, and we got some good points today. Bring on tomorrow.”

The Repco Supercars Championship field will return on Sunday for Race 10 qualifying at 9:40am AEST. Check out the full weekend schedule here.

The OTR SuperSprint will be broadcast live on Foxtel and will be streamed on Kayo with highlights on 7 and 7 Plus.