Dominant Waters charges to Saturday pole in Sydney

Cam Waters has continued early dominance in the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship, charging to Race 2 pole at the Thrifty Sydney 500 - Opening Round in a thrilling Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout.

In a one-lap dash dominated by tight margins and big performances, it was the driver who crushed the field on Friday who ended up fastest of all.

Waters ended up 0.2268s quicker than closest rival Broc Feeney, with Friday podium-finishers Chaz Mostert and Thomas third and fourth ahead of reigning champion Will Brown.

It marked the 31st pole of Waters' career, taking him to outright ninth all-time, and continued the Tickford Racing driver's perfect start to the new season after his pole-to-flag performance on Friday.

The pole was also the 386th for Ford in ATCC/Supercars Championship history, taking the all-time record away from Holden.

It also sets up a rematch of Friday's start, when Waters and Feeney launched off the line to start Race 1.

"So far, so good. One-lap pace the car has been awesome to drive," Waters said.

"I knew we had a fast car then, I just had to hit my marks, not make any mistakes, and I knew I would've been in the mix for sure, so bring it on.

"I knew we had something good, but I didn't know it was this good. In practice we were better than what we were on the time sheets, and last night was awesome.

"It's cool to win a race like that [on Friday], I think strategy helped a little bit, but we know we've got a fast car, it was quick again then, and it's really good on it's tyres."

Cameron Hill kicked off the Shootout with an impressive 1:29.8910s, followed by Ryan Wood, who sailed to the fastest time to the final corner, only to strike wheel spin at the gear change.

Bryce Fullwood was unable to land a punch with his 1:30.0573s, with Brad Jones Racing teammate Andre Heimgartner recording a 1:29.8846s to slot in just 0.12s behind Wood.

The marker to chase for the final five was set by Randle, who went quickest in the first two sectors to land a 1:29.4006s. Brown set the time sheets alight in Sector 2, but was 0.182s at the line.

Mostert was on the money in Sector 1, and set the fastest middle sector. At the line, Mostert laid down a 1:29.3997s, which was a scant 0.0009s quicker than Randle.

Matt Payne could only manage a 1:29.7102s to slot in behind Mostert, Randle and Brown, leaving Feeney and Waters to chase Mostert's 1:29.3997s.

Feeney was nearly 0.2s down heading into the final sequence of corners, yet pulled a rabbit out of the hat on the run to the line to put 0.036s on Mostert's time.

Waters turned up the wick, going nearly 0.2s quicker in the first sector, and even faster in the second. While Feeney's final sector remained the best of the session, Waters' 1:29.1362s was the best.

The first 200km race of the weekend, Race 2, will commence at 7:50pm AEDT.

The race will feature two compulsory pit stops and the debut of the new-for-2025 fuel churns.