WATERS BACKS UP POLE WITH PODIUM IN SUPERCARS RACE 18

PRESS RELEASE/Tickford Racing – Photo: Velocity Magazine (Darin Mandy)

Cameron Waters (No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang) has scored his fifth podium of 2019 with a third place finish in Sunday’s Race 18 at the Townsville 400. The result follows the pole position Waters claimed in the day’s Top Ten Shootout, the fourth of his career. Waters also advances back to seventh in the Virgin Australia Supercars drivers’ championship.
 
After a disappointing 16^th place result in qualifying Sunday morning, Chaz Mostert (No. 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang) used a lightning start to move up nine position in the first lap alone, and looked to be in fighting contention for the podium. However on his second stop Mostert’s crew could not put enough fuel in the car to meet the 120-litre minimum fuel drop, and needed to stop for a splash of fuel on Lap 60 to finish the race legally.
 
After making his second consecutive Top Ten Shootout and qualifying eighth, Lee Holdsworth (No. 5 The Bottle-O Ford Mustang) was running in the top five when teams decided to change to wet tyres as rain intensified. With Mostert running ahead of him, Holdsworth stayed out for an additional lap in the tricky conditions to avoid a double stack, but lost valuable time on-track and dropped as low as 16^th following the stop. Over the remaining 32 laps Holdsworth was able to climb back up to eighth and secure a fifth straight top ten finish.
 
Will Davison (No. 23 Milwaukee Racing Ford Mustang) also struggled in qualifying and started from 14^th, but ran as high as ninth in the first stint. However the 23Red Racing driver’s day came unravelled on Lap 26 when two cars just in front of Davison collided, leaving him nowhere to go and ultimately taking left front damage forcing him to pit. Losing 13 laps while the crew made repairs, Davison returned to action and finished the race 22^nd.
 
The Virgin Australia Supercars Championship returns to Queensland in three weeks for the Century Batteries Ipswich SuperSprint at Queensland Raceway July 26-28.

DRIVERS’ VIEW
No. 5 The Bottle-O Ford Mustang
Lee Holdsworth
Race 18 Quali: 1m12.44s, 9th
Top Ten Shootout: 1m12.93s, 7th
Race 18 Finish: 8th
“It was a wild race, very wild race. I sort of kept out of the grief at the start and we were running in pretty good track position. We stayed out on slicks for too long and that really ruined our race, but it was nice to recover and pick up another top ten and some good points. And it’s nice to come out and have another consistent weekend, so we’re building on it each round, and hopefully next round’s even stronger again.”

No. 6 Monster Energy Ford Mustang
Cameron Waters
Race 18 Quali: 1m12.37s, 5th
Top Ten Shootout: 1m12.48s, 1st
Race 18 Finish: 3rd
“It was obviously a great day for us, with yesterday was one to forget and to bounce back and get pole was really cool. My car was really quick at the start of the race and on a green tyre when the car was cold, but just didn’t really have the deg, what the other guys had. I didn’t really know where I was at that point, so I just tried to keep it clean and try not to get up the escape road too many times and managed to get it on the podium. It’s awesome for all the guys, obviously they worked really hard this weekend to turn it around after yesterday.”

No. 55 Supercheap Auto Ford Mustang
Chaz Mostert
Race 18 Quali: 1m12.57s, 16th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 18 Finish:5th
“A bit gutted to be honest. The car was really, really good in the slippery conditions, and there was some stuff we did at the start, even before the race started, and the weather just didn’t go our way. Obviously it was great to have a fast car, but that extra pit stop at the end hurt our finishing position. A bit gutted, P5, most people would kill for that result, but when you feel you can get a trophy and maybe even on that top step, it hurts that it eluded us today.”

No. 23 Milwaukee Racing Ford Mustang 
Will Davison
Race 18 Quali: 1m12.52s, 14th
Top Ten Shootout: n/a
Race 18 Finish: 22nd
“Crazy stuff. Those races are cool, we actually look forward to them because you know it’s going to create that (unpredictability)…I was just being really calm, really patient early because you see all the silliness going on, seen it all before. I thought everyone was going good, we had lots of fuel in the car, and then that restart on the slicks was just ridiculous…The (painted) lines were horrible, so you just had to find your way around, learn your way around. I don’t know, a lot of people didn’t really want to take their time…It was really unfortunate, what happened in the end. Obviously (Mark) Winterbottom out braked himself, got into (Andre) Heimgartner, and then I had nowhere to go.”

Rod Nash, co-owner
“Certainly it was a mixed bag of results today, obviously we’re thrilled for Cam and the Monster Energy Racing crew for making big gains overnight. It was a fantastic Shootout, down to the wire between the front pair. Lee made a nice comeback to the top ten and Chaz was brilliant, but everyone had something to be frustrated at today and obviously Will got the worst of it. We feel we could have been higher up and potentially won that race, so while we’re very happy to walk out of here with a pole cheque and two trophies, we know it could have gone better. That being said most of pit lane could probably say that, that was a wild race, and we’re glad to have had some decent results out of it.

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