Waters: Losing to van Gisbergen 'stings'

Cam Waters was left wanting after coming out second-best in a battle with Shane van Gisbergen.

Van Gisbergen passed Waters after a thrilling battle in the ITM Auckland SuperSprint finale.

Waters loomed as the villain to New Zealand’s hero, with the Tickford driver holding on.

Try as he might, van Gisbergen failed to clear Waters on a number of occasions.

Notably, the two made contact at Turn 11 on lap 35, an incident which drew the attention of officials after Triple Eight complained.

It was the latest in a long line of Waters-van Gisbergen battles, and perhaps the best of the lot.

Van Gisbergen ultimately got past and won, and Waters was left licking his wounds.

“Obviously it’s pretty good to score three podiums this weekend,” he said.

“Battling Shane in the last race was pretty cool, but it stings to not get the win there.

"We had a good car, good strategy, and put ourselves in position.

“When it got down to the end I didn’t have enough rotation in the corners to hold Shane off.”

Waters retained second in the points, but van Gisbergen’s lead is an extended 525 points.

Supercars now heads to Mount Panorama, where Waters will shift his attention to a maiden Bathurst win.

Waters will share his Monster Ford with James Moffat; the pair finished second last year.

"I threw absolutely everything at it, the fans loved it which was cool,” he said.

“While I wish we could have been on the top step, second’s a good way to finish the weekend.

"It’s frustrating now, but it’s a good motivator for Bathurst.

“We’ll have a good couple weeks of prep and go chase the big one at the Mountain."

Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000 are available on Supercars.com and Ticketek.