Waters' blunt response to costly Taupō troubles

You could have forgiven Cam Waters for wanting to dash out of Taupō, but the Ford star still had time to show some humour after a bruising Saturday.

The Tickford Racing driver arrived in New Zealand just 28 points from the championship, after an ultra-consistent start to the season. However, it quickly unravelled on Saturday, first after a clash with Andre Heimgartner, before a quiet run to ninth in the 200km race.

Waters was left seething after incurring damage from the collision with Heimgartner, which saw the Monster Energy Ford tumble down to 21st as points leader Brodie Kostecki won.

It was the first time all season that Waters had failed to finish inside the top 10, having finishes the previous seven races no worse than sixth.

Come Race 9, and Waters was 37 seconds behind race winner Ryan Wood.

In a single day, the margin to the championship lead blew out from 28 to 113 points.

When approached on Supercars’ Equip Super Cool Down Lap podcast, Waters made light of his tough day by looking forward to the immediate future.

“I’m a bit better now. I know Tom [Randle, teammate]’s driving the hire car,” Waters said.

“There'll be a beer in my hand in probably 30 minutes.”

All told, Waters was 12th for the round, and was out-scored by Kostecki to the tune of 85 points.

With Broc Feeney and Matt Payne also scoring big points, Waters dropped from second to fourth in the drivers’ championship, with Tickford also dropping from first to fourth in the teams’ standings.

In a social media video, Waters bluntly conceded the pace wasn’t there relative to his closest rivals.

“We were about ninth on pace, so we finished ninth. Maximised what we have, but yeah, just not quick enough,” the 18-time race winner said.

“So we will find some pace for next weekend.”

Drivers will contest four races in Christchurch, following Sunday’s Taupō cancellation.