MONSTER Energy Mustang driver Cameron Waters is the biggest threat to Red Bull Ampol Racing duo Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup in the remainder of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship, says four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy.
The Kiwi ace, who will return to Supercars racing as a wildcard entrant in the Repco Bathurst 1000 in October, made the comments on the V8 Sleuth-produced Repco Supercars Weekly podcast this week.
Waters won two of last weekend’s three races in Townsville to move himself into third place in the Repco Supercars Championship pointscore, 136 points behind second-placed Whincup.
Chaz Mostert sits fourth, just eight points behind Waters, while Will Davison sits fifth in the points, a mere one point behind Mostert.
When asked by host Aaron Noonan if Waters is the main threat this year to the Triple Eight drivers above Mostert, Davison and DJR’s Anton De Pasquale, the Kiwi said yes.
“I think so, I think he is,” said Murphy.
“I take my hat off to Tickford, Cam and the team to turn it around the way they did (in Townsville).
“I did not see that coming and I don’t think anyone did, did they?
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“To see Cam in the two races the previous weekend be down a lap on Saturday, and nearly a lap down on Sunday, and then he comes back to be a threat like that and win two races a week later.
“I love the back-to-back format of being a racetrack two weeks in a row, it just throws up so many curves and allows people to adapt and learn the way they did.
“For Cam, it’s given him so much confidence as well and put him in a powerful position, so I really hope he can continue and become a threat and thorn in the side of those guys like he was in Townsville, it was sensational.”
The next round of the championship is slated to be at Queensland Raceway in late August, however recent COVID restrictions and state border closures leave the state of the Supercars calendar as a case of ‘wait and see’.
