Deserving Champ

2015 V8 Supercars Dunlop Series runner-up Paul Dumbrell has applauded new Champion Cameron Waters for his flawless title efforts this season.

Dumbrell – who is a two-time Dunlop Series Champion, clinching his second last year –handed the crown over to Waters today after the 21-year-old wrapped up the title with an almost-perfect season-long performance.

Over the seven round series, Waters managed to rack up five round wins, 10 race wins and 10 ARMOR ALL Pole Positions. Yet despite his dominance, Dumbrell threatened his hand on the trophy, narrowing the margin to 77 points. 

But Waters prevailed, and Dumbrell was full of praise for Waters and his Prodrive crew.

“Any championship is a great achievement to win, and hard to win, they’re not an easy thing to do,” Dumbrell said. 

“You’ve got to be consistent over the whole year. It doesn’t mean you can win one race and it just comes to you.

“That’s why Cam and his team did a great job this year, because they were consistent track-in-track-out, week-in-week-out, and they had a fast car.

“It’s full credit to them." 

In a reverse situation, Waters came close to grasping the title from Dumbrell’s hands in 2014, but a series of on-track mistakes cost the 2014 runner-up the chance at the crown. 

However in 2015, Waters emerged hungry for the title, eradicating his mistakes to produce a championship-winning performance. 

“In 2014, I made a lot of mistakes and I highlighted a few areas that I wanted to improve in,” Waters said following his win of the Dunlop Series title.

“And I think this year, I probably proved that.

“I didn’t make mistakes for a long time… I think I learnt from 2014 and stepped up in my driving as well. 

“I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made through this year.”

His only mistake this season came on one of the most critical days of the year: yesterday, when he could have wrapped up the title.

Instead, he started the race from 12th after he was stripped of his fastest time in qualifying for causing the red flag, but managed to finish eighth.

“I was hoping to wrap it up yesterday but I made a mistake and dragged it out a little bit,” Waters said of his rare mistake.

“I put myself on the back foot, but being a street track anything can happen.

“So I just had to get through today and make sure I finished and wrapt it up so yeah, couldn’t be happier.”