CAM Waters described victory in the opening leg of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 as a “massive relief”, amid a torrid year for the Ford star.
The 29-year-old held off Shane van Gisbergen in a thrilling finish to the 250km race to take what was the first win on pure merit for a Mustang driver all season.
Waters was awarded victory in the Newcastle opener after a double Triple Eight disqualification, while an extra set of tyres helped Dick Johnson Racing win in Townsville.
Ford’s fight to achieve parity with the rapid Camaros has been well documented, and included a second in-season aerodynamic upgrade prior to the Gold Coast round.
Waters’ woes though have run deeper still and included a disastrous endurance campaign.
He was taken out of contention by a flying wheel at the Sandown 500 and watching co-driver James Moffat crash out at Bathurst.
Waters also suffered a scary engine fire while leading the Saturday race at Hidden Valley back in June.
“It’s been a shocking year to be honest for many different reasons, I didn’t think the bad luck was ever going to end,” said Waters.
“It just felt like I was getting kicked over and over. You just keep getting up, keep training, stay motivated and try to make the car better with the things you can control.
“We’ve been fast over the last few rounds, just haven’t been able to convert. It’s a massive relief, to be honest.”
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Waters believes the latest parity change, designed to move the Mustang’s aero balance rearward and reduce drag, played a role in today’s win.
The Mustangs have often been fast in qualifying this season before eating their rear tyres over a race distance.
“Our car in the race was the best race car we’ve had all year,” he said.
“Just because we’ve moved the aero balance rearward, close to what the Camaro has, it’s definitely helped our tyre life.
“There’s still areas which I don’t think are the same, but everyone is trying their best and want it the same, and we’ll keep chipping away at that, I guess.
“The off-season is going to be pretty busy for Supercars and they’re going to keep trying the best they can.”
Supercars has responded to the parity plight by investing heavily in upcoming wind tunnel testing in the United States.
It is also uprating its engine testing capabilities, with AVL dyno testing to begin next month.
“I’m pretty disappointed really, we just wasted a whole year,” Waters continued.
“I guess it just highlighted how bad we paritise the cars and I think it just exposed that.
“It’s no one’s fault and I look at things positively.
“Sending cars to wind tunnels and changing how we do things is the right way to move forward.
“It’s annoying I’ve wasted a year, for sure, it’s bad for my sponsors, myself, the team, Ford, but everyone keeps trying.
“We’re not giving up, we just want it fixed so we’ve got a fair fight.”
