'No one's safe': Waters puts elimination heat on Finals rivals
2025 Finals field to be slashed from seven to four at Sandown
Cam Waters heads to Sandown in fourth, ahead of reigning champ Will Brown
Broc Feeney, Chaz Mostert, Matt Payne and Brown currently top four
Cam Waters insists "no one is safe" at this weekend's Penrite Oil Sandown 500, where the 2025 Finals field will be slashed from seven to four.
Waters enters Sandown as one of four drivers holding a provisional bp Adelaide Grand Final berth, along with leader Broc Feeney, the in-form Chaz Mostert, and Bathurst winner Matt Payne.
Reigning champion Will Brown, rookie Kai Allen and Waters' Tickford Racing teammate Thomas Randle are in the drop zone, with 500 kilometres of racing standing between the seven and Adelaide.
Already, the new-for-2025 Finals format has thrown up shocks, with 2023 champion Brodie Kostecki crashing out of contention on the Gold Coast, before reliability and penalties halted Ryan Wood and Anton De Pasquale respectively.
Finals drivers were also magnets to each other: Allen collided with Brown (Saturday) and Randle (Sunday), Mostert and Feeney got into it for the win on Sunday, and Payne put a bold move on Waters on Sunday.
On Sandown form alone, the expectation is that both Triple Eight cars will progress, given the team has won 15 of the last 19 Sandown races dating back to 2011. The pressure, then, is two-fold: on Triple Eight to deliver on the weight of expectation, and on the others to qualify for Adelaide.
However, even Feeney — who is 84 points from the drop zone — isn't in the clear, according to Waters.
“With The Finals, and even looking at Gold Coast, no one's safe," Waters told Supercars.com.
"It's cut-throat and you can feel the intensity's up. One little mistake, and you can be out.
"It's cool. It's exciting. Obviously, if we can go out and have a good result on Saturday, it puts pressure on others, and hopefully we can capitalise.”
Waters and Brown traded the championship lead in the opening rounds before Feeney took over in Tasmania. Waters and Brown slipped behind Payne as the enduros approached, before Gold Coast double winner Mostert vaulted from sixth to second after the points reset.
Waters remained in fourth, while Brown dropped from third to fifth, courtesy of two qualifying crashes in as many days in Surfers Paradise.
When asked if he would be surprised if Brown was eliminated before Adelaide, Waters instead reiterated that it's anyone's game, given teams will "step it up" this weekend.
“I don't think it’s just Brown. I think anyone in that seven can make it, or get kicked out," Waters said.
"I don't think anyone's safe. You really have to have a clean weekend and be competitive.
“The Triple Eight cars are definitely going to be fast there. They're always pretty quick around there and also pretty fast down the straight.
"Obviously they're gonna be out to redeem their Gold Coast weekend, particularly Will, but I think everyone's going to step it up.”
Finishes of fifth and fourth on the Gold Coast were enough for Melbourne-based Waters to reach the Semi Final, but he now enters his home event on the bubble and under pressure to hang on.
However, the Monster Energy Mustang driver said he planned to come out the other side of the Surfers weekend with a clean set of heels, rather than chase wins and clinch automatic qualification to the next round.
While he admitted that winning a race is the simplest way to progress, Waters maintained that scoring well in the dual 250km races will keep his destiny in his own hands.
"I think Goldie was an okay weekend. It was clean, obviously scored well points wise. Would've liked to be a little bit quicker, but I wanted to make it through to the next one," said Waters, who is winless at Sandown since the 2017 500km enduro.
"I don't think you have to win [a race]. Obviously it's nice and it takes the pressure off.
“But I think if you're competitive and up the front, getting good points in front of those others, it's also a pretty good way to progress. So, either option to progress would be, nice for us.
"Hopefully we just go get a win on Saturday and go through.”
Track action at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 commences on Friday. Live coverage will be taken by Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and Sky NZ. Tickets are on sale now.
