Dutton: Triple Eight 'needs' AGP repeat after Waters sweep
Triple Eight "needs" 2024 AGP repeat, says Mark Dutton
Cam Waters opened up 60-point lead after Sydney clean sweep
Triple Eight won three of four races at last year's Grand Prix
After being beaten by Tickford Racing in Sydney, Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Manager Mark Dutton says his team doesn’t just want to bounce back in Melbourne — it needs to.
Tickford and Cam Waters set the pace at the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round, the Monster Energy Ford driver winning all three races from pole position.
It could have been a different story for Triple Eight, with Broc Feeney suffering a puncture while running second on Friday night, before losing the Race 2 to win by just 0.03s in a remarkable finish.
Feeney, who started from the front row in all three races, also collided with Erebus Motorsport rookie Cooper Murray late in Sunday's race, robbing the former of a podium.
Waters leads reigning champion Will Brown by 60 points after Sydney, which is the largest margin between first and second after Round 1 since the 300-point era began in 2008.
It betters Craig Lowndes’ 52-point lead over Fabian Coulthard after the 2013 Adelaide 500, although there is a new point system in 2025, and Waters claimed all 15 fastest lap bonus points.
Remove the bonus points, and Waters would still have a 45-point lead, putting him third behind 2013 and Shane van Gisbergen’s 51-point lead after the 2017 season opener.
Unlike 2024, Triple Eight starts the year behind; after winning both Round 1 races last year, Triple Eight reinforced its speed with three wins from four starts at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Speaking on Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast, when asked if being beaten by Tickford fires the team up to replicate last year’s Grand Prix performance, Dutton said: "Yeah, 100 percent it does.
"You know, not just want to, need to. We need to repeat that weekend. We need to bounce back off this weekend.
"Look, it was a solid weekend. We were second. We don't really like being second. So we'll work on that, but we definitely won't take anything for granted.
"So while, yes, we've been fast in recent times at the Grand Prix, that doesn't mean we'll be the fastest without all the hard work.”
Triple Eight is still only 26 points behind leaders Tickford, with Brown second and Feeney fourth. Thomas Randle is sixth, 133 points behind his teammate.
Tickford leads the Live Pit Lane order, which won’t have a bearing on the Grand Prix given there are no pit stops in the four sprints — something Dutton was well aware of.
“Unfortunately we're P2 in the teams' championship, but it's not as much of a deficit at the Grand Prix as it would be everywhere else,” Dutton said.
"So, we'll try and rectify that coming out of the Grand Prix. But overall, look, the team did a fantastic job.
“But hats off to the Tickford girls and guys there. Did an awesome job, fast car all weekend. Impressive.”
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Melbourne SuperSprint, which will feature at the Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Australian Grand Prix 2025 on March 13-16.
