CAM Waters is ready to kick-start his Repco Supercars Championship campaign at Albert Park following a strong first practice in a new Monster Mustang.
Waters entered last month’s Bathurst 500 season-opener among the championship favourites but struggled for speed across the entire weekend.
Leaving Mount Panorama 20th in the standings, the team responded by rapidly building up a new car to replace the machine he’d been racing since the start of 2023.
It underwent a pre-event shakedown at Winton before being driven to the third-quickest time in Thursday’s opening practice in Melbourne.
“The car was pretty nice to drive, felt like the normal self again,” Waters said.
“(It) kind of had grip where at Bathurst, nothing was making sense.”
Although the control nature of the class means there can be no design differences between chassis, a fresh car can bring minor mechanical – and also psychological – benefits.
RESULTS: SpongeBob SquarePants Camaro tops Practice 1
Waters noted the team “found a couple of little car things” after Bathurst and added of the new machine: “It just felt like it should.
“As soon as I rolled out at Winton in the car it felt like the normal car that I drove every other weekend last year.
“As soon as I went out of pitlane at Winton I knew we were on and, so far, this weekend it’s been pretty good.
“We’ll keep making it a little bit better yet, it’s early in the weekend still.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Bathurst 500, Supercars co-driver and TV pundit Garth Tander was critical of Waters’ attitude and approach at the Mountain.
Waters subsequently revealed he’d been suffering from illness at the event.
While explaining the turnaround from Bathurst to Albert Park, Waters had a cheeky dig at Tander and TV colleague Mark Skaife.
“I watched back all the footage and Skaifey said the mechanical pre-load was too much, so we sorted that out,” he said.
“I heard Garth say I needed to pick up my bottom lip, so I’ve done that and now away we go.”
