Waters defies cool suit issue in Bathurst charge

Cam Waters defied cool suit issue in Bathurst charge
Waters' cool suit failed early in Sunday's rapid race
Waters/James Moffat recovered from early error to finish fourth

Cam Waters’ fitness was tested in a rapid Repco Bathurst 1000 following a cool suit malfunction, with the Tickford Racing driver first Ford home in fourth.

Waters fought back from a first-stint error at Hell Corner to finish fourth with James Moffat, just ahead of Chaz Mostert/Lee Holdsworth in fifth.

Sunday’s race was run at a record pace, with drivers putting in qualifying laps before and after the lap 132 Safety Car. Waters was up against it, given his cool suit stopped working, while the team didn't give him a brake rotor change either.

However, Waters responded to the challenge and held off Mostert to finish fourth, with Will Brown just 1.5s up the road.

“[Waters] was fine. He was just disappointed,” Tickford CEO Simon Brookhouse said on Supercars.com’s Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.

“The brakes thing wasn't necessarily an issue. He was quite happy with the brakes the way they were. It was as much his call, I think, as it was the engineering team's call.

“They asked him whether they wanted to do them at the second last stop, and he said ’No, they're going great’. So he kept going and he held off Chaz in a bit of a battle there in the last sort of 15 laps.

“He was good. He's just disappointed. You know, he yearns to win this race like all drivers do, and he's had so many chances in the last five years, you know, starting on the front row and being on the podium a couple of times.

“He'll be back next year. I'm sure bigger and better than ever.”

The Hell Corner mistake ultimately proved costly, given Brown was trailing Waters at the time. Waters and Moffat pressed on, the latter forced to avoid the lapped Matt Chahda on Conrod Straight amid a flurry of blue flags.

Brookhouse was also impressed by the performance of the sister Thomas Randle/Tyler Everingham entry, which made more ground than any other car with a 19th-to-11th run.

Tickford was, however, warned after a stray torch fell from the #55 Ford as it was leaving its garage for the reconnaissance lap, and rolled across the fast lane.

"Cam was great. Made one little mistake, but we made that back. He dropped to 10th and we got back to fourth, which is pretty well where we were in the field, to be honest," Brookhouse said.

"I think the three Chevs that cleared out were decidedly quicker than our car today, particularly down the straights.

"But I couldn't fault the team, couldn't fault how we went, proud of everyone, proud of the drivers. And look, we've kept second the championship, which we're pretty happy about.

"We would have liked to obviously be on the podium, but it wasn't to be.”

Waters and Randle retained fourth and eighth, and Tickford second, heading to the Gold Coast on October 25-27.