Why 'frustrated' Waters slumped to 13th in Race 20

A pit stop “miscue” and being stuck in traffic cost Cameron Waters dearly in Race 20.

The Tickford Racing driver started the Saturday night race in Sydney seventh, but crossed the line 13th.

He found himself in traffic following his lap 18 pit stop, and despite the advantage of fresh rubber, Waters couldn’t make up any ground.

Waters finished the race 38 seconds behind victor Anton De Pasquale, who easily won from pole.

The result ensured Waters dropped from third to fifth in the points standings; Chaz Mostert and Will Davison, his closest rivals, both finished in the top 10.

“It was definitely a race to forget,” said Waters, who is now 460 points behind series leader Shane van Gisbergen.

"Making the shootout was good and I think my shootout lap was pretty solid, to start seventh wasn’t too bad, but in the race we just didn’t have much to fight with.

"I had a little miscue on my stop just getting out of the box, that cost us a little time and then towards the end I got stuck behind a couple cars.”

No driver lost more positions than Waters, who dumped six spots en route to his worst result since he finished 20th in Race 1 in Bathurst.

It was just the fourth time in 20 starts that the Monster Energy Mustang pilot didn’t place in the top eight this season.

It was a key disappointment considering the team focused on race pace and tyre degradation in Friday practice.

"I was faster than them but just couldn’t get by, unfortunately we just didn’t have the balance to get it done,” he said.

"It’s a really frustrating result, we’re better than that and we’re not far from having something better to talk about.

“Yeah, we just didn’t have the pace tonight to do much more.”

Cars will return to Sydney Motorsport Park for Race 21 ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 10:30am AEDT on Sunday.