CAM Waters has admitted it was a lonely climax to Qualifying for Race 1 at the Tasmania SuperSprint as the sole Ford representative.
For the first time in almost five years, less than two Blue Oval entries qualified inside the top 10 for a Supercars race.
The last such instance came in Qualifying for Race 2 at the 2018 Tailem Bend round, when Holden ZB Commodores filled the entire top 10 grid slots.
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Waters actually set the fastest lap of all during qualifying at Symmons Plains earlier today when he topped Q2, but will start this afternoon’s 42-lapper from third behind Will Brown and Jack Le Brocq.
The Tickford Racing star admitted to making a mistake in Q3 but was clear that driveability is an issue for Ford, perhaps more so than outright pace.
“It’s just very edgy and it just feels a little bit on top of the road,” Waters said.
“I know our other cars are struggling with a similar thing.
“When you nail absolutely everything in the driver’s seat, you can extract a lap out of it but to do it lap after lap is pretty difficult so we have got to keep chipping away.
“At least we have got some pace and we’re right up the front again which is good – I went missing for a little bit there, but we’ll be right.”
He further went on to say: “We just need to make it a little bit easier to drive.
“I feel a bit lonely up in the 10 being the only Ford so hopefully I get some of my Ford mates in the 10.
“If it’s edgy to drive, it usually doesn’t mean it’s going to be fun in the race but we have got a chance to tune it now so we’ll make it a little bit nicer, hopefully we can calm it down a bit.
“Obviously the other guys have done some set-up stuff as well so hopefully we learn a bit from those guys and we can give it to these Camaros.”
Walkinshaw Andretti United teammates Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat were the next best Ford qualifiers after Waters, in 11th and 13th.
Race 1 of the weekend starts at 3:50pm AEST.
V8 Sleuth’s coverage of the 2023 NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint is proudly presented by ACL RACE Series – Proudly manufactured in Australia for over 70 years. Visit ACL Performance online here to check out more on the ACL RACE Series.
