Waters storms to Sydney victory as Feeney suffers puncture

Cam Waters has put Ford on top in the first Supercars race of 2025, crushing the field in the Thrifty Sydney 500 opener after a shock puncture for Broc Feeney.

Waters controlled the 26-lap race and claimed an extra five points for setting the fastest lap as he finished nearly 17 seconds clear of Chaz Mostert, with Thomas Randle denying Matt Payne the final spot on the podium on the last lap.

Behind the runaway all-Ford top four, reigning champion Will Brown motored from 11th to fifth at the chequered flag ahead of Dick Johnson Racing recruit Brodie Kostecki.

Andre Heimgartner, Anton De Pasquale, Bryce Fullwood and Jack Le Brocq rounded out the top 10, with Feeney recovering to 14th, some 39 seconds behind.

"That's absolutely awesome, I knew we had a fast race car in qualifying, and I was pretty happy when we won the start," said Waters, who claimed maximum points.

"It was so fast out there, so massive thank you to the whole team. Wow, how different this is from 12 months ago when we had wheels falling off and I was crook. so I couldn't be happier.

"The morale at Tickford is so good at the moment, we didn't really lose anyone in the off season which was great, and Tommy and I work so well together, and we know we've fast cars, so we're all pretty pumped.

"It's awesome to go racing and get a win, and for Randle to be on the podium, that's awesome for the 55 car."

Amid the threat of looming showers, Race Control declared the track wet prior to the start.

Waters and Feeney enjoyed even starts as the lights went out, but a stronger secondary launch put the pole-sitter into a clear lead through Turn 1. Behind them, Kostecki tried to round Payne up at Turn 2, with Mostert jumping from eighth to fifth. All the while, a poor start dropped Kai Allen from 10th to 18th.

Feeney closed to within 0.5s of Waters in the early laps, before the margin blew out to 6.3s by lap 12.

Kostecki, Reynolds and Allen kicked off the pit cycle at the end of lap 5, with Payne, Fullwood, De Pasquale and Richie Stanaway stopping on the following lap. Fullwood emerged behind De Pasquale, with a close call noted by Race Control.

In the midpack, Brown had made ground to effective ninth, but quickly fell back into the clutches of a racy Ryan Wood. After Wood first made the pass at Turn 6 and then held firm through Turn 8, Triple Eight brought Brown in for four tyres.

Brown made his stop after being hit with a bad sportsmanship flag for exceeding track limits.

On lap 12, Feeney slowed with his left rear puncture, first dropping behind Mostert and Randle, before sliding to the very back of the field. The trio stopped at the end of the lap, leaving Waters a clear leader out in front.

On lap 15, Tickford brought the race leader in. After taking on four tyres, Waters resumed with a one second lead over Payne, with Mostert seven seconds down in third.

Heimgartner's lap 17 stop revealed Waters in the lead, with Payne, Mostert, Randle, Kostecki, Brown, De Pasquale, Fullwood, Le Brocq and Wood rounding out the top 10.

Brown, charging after his four-tyre stop, cleared Kostecki for fifth at the Turn 8 hairpin with seven laps remaining.

With three laps remaining, Mostert forced his way past the ailing Payne through Turn 3, before Payne responded through Turn 7. The battle invited Randle into the discussion, with the duo making contact through the final corner.

Try as he might, Payne was defenceless against Randle on the final tour, the Castrol Ford slicing through for third into Turn 7.

It mattered little to Waters, though, who claimed victory by the official margin of 16.8478s.

Supercars will return to the track on Saturday at 2:35pm AEDT for Boost Mobile Qualifying, followed by the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 4:35pm.

The 200km Race 2 will commence at 7:30pm.