Numbers that underline Waters' unbelievable turnaround

He may have lost the points lead in Melbourne, but there's no doubt that Cam Waters has come to play in 2025.

12 months ago, the Tickford Racing driver was arguably already out of championship contention, sitting 16th overall, 328 points from the points lead.

At that stage, Waters only had 43% of leader Will Brown's haul, and didn't have a single podium to his name.

A stunning Sydney sweep, winning all three races from pole position, put Waters on top of the standings. As it was after Round 2 last year, Brown is the leader again, but the biggest winner undoubtedly is Waters.

Brown and Waters are separated by just seven points heading to New Zealand, which is the closest margin between first and second after two rounds in the 300-point era since 2008.

Only once before in nine previous seasons has Waters been within 100 points of the championship leaving Round 2, when he was 72 points down in fifth in 2017.

In seasons he claimed podiums at Round 1, in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023, he either hit drama in the other race, or stumbled at the next round.

While Tickford isn't sweating over its Melbourne wobbles, 2007 Supercars champion Garth Tander said the Ford team needs to be more consistent to keep taking the fight to Triple Eight.

"When we concluded Sydney Motorsport Park, we posed the question, can Cam Waters and Tickford continue this vein of form? It looked so ominous, that it did look like they would go on," Tander said.

"They could not have had a more up and down weekend at Albert Park. They really need to go back and understand what happened, why all the speed came in the races, but it wasn't there qualifying.

"Really a deep dive and understand that so they don't go through weekends of ups and downs like this. We know that Red Bull Ampol Racing, Will Brown and Broc Feeney, are always going to be in the hunt.

"He wasn't spectacular this weekend, Will Brown, but he scored the most points. Waters was spectacular, he passed a lot of cars, but he lost the championship lead because he didn't have the speed he needed in qualifying.

"Tickford need to find that consistency, traditionally that's been their problem. When they're up, they're great. When they're down, they're spectacularly down."

Supercars action will commence in New Zealand on Friday April 11. Tickets are on sale now.

Cam Waters in Supercars after Round 2