Waters makes blunt promise after Taupō weekend falls apart

"This will be the lowest point of our year."

They are the telling words from an impassioned Cam Waters, who has vowed to make Taupō his worst round of the season.

The Tickford Racing driver started his New Zealand campaign strongly, racing to second in Saturday's first race behind Ford rival Matt Payne.

However, it quickly fell apart from there, Waters slumping to 14th in the second race of day, which was held on Dunlop's Super Soft tyre.

Come Sunday, and Waters ran off on his flying lap in Boost Mobile Qualifying, consigning himself to 18th on the grid.

After 61 laps, Waters was just 12th after a difficult race that included a tangle with Macauley Jones and a slow second stop.

Crucially, Waters' chief championship rivals heading into the race, Triple Eight teammates Will Brown and Broc Feeney, only finished eighth and seventh, the former investigated over pit lane speed.

The biggest winner, though, was Payne, who is now third overall and just 12 points behind Waters. Payne out-scored Waters by 130 points on the weekend, with Brown 103 and Feeney 115 points off the pace.

Speaking after Sunday's race, Waters, who started the season with three wins from pole in Sydney, vowed to make Round 3 his worst of what will be 13 in 2025.

"Well, that's New Zealand done and dusted," Waters said in a Tickford video.

"Started well, then went downhill. And then got a little bit better, then went downhill again.

"Probably pace for front. We were actually really fast in the [Sunday] race, obviously slow pit stop and I made a mistake in qualifying.

"We will come back way better than this weekend. This will be the lowest point of our year.

"We will be a lot better from here."

Waters will resume his 2025 season in Tasmania on May 9-11, where he dominated last year's finale.