What a change a week makes! Cameron Waters took a well deserved victory in the opening race of the WD-40 Townsville Supersprint, while separate incidents for Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen saw both driver handed 15 second time penalties. Anton De Pasquale and Chaz Mostert were the beneficiaries and displaced Whincup from a place on the podium.

After the Red Bull Ampol Racing Team dominance of both 88 laps races in the NTI Townsville Supersprint, no-one would have predicted an Anton De Pasquale and Cameron Waters front row for the first race at the WD-40 Townsville Supersprint. Jamie Whincup shared the second row with Will Davison, while Shane van Gisbergen was back on row three with Chaz Mostert.

De Pasquale and Waters ran side-by-side off the line at the start of the 39 lap race, while Whincup moved to the right edge of the circuit to cover Mostert and set up a possible pass on Waters for 2nd. Shane van Gisbergen and Will Davison were fortunate to avoid contact from Brodie Kostecki, who had run deep under brakes for Turn 2 and barely managed to get the car turned through the corner. Zane Goddard had qualified in 10th but soon found himself down in 17th after contact sent the MSR entry sideways at the exit of second corner.

Macauley Jones was tagged on the entry to Turn 3 and was left facing the wrong direction. Bryce Fullwood and David Reynolds slowed to avoid contact with the stranded Coca Cola sponsored machine and dropped well down the order. A late dive into turn 11 saw van Gisbergen move past Brodie Kostecki, but the Erebus driver was not willing to concede and kept the inside line into the final corner. The battle between the pair pay have taken Kostecki’s focus from the braking zone when the Boost Mobile entry touched the rear of Todd Hazelwood and sent the BJR car off the circuit on the entry to the main straight.

At the end of the opening lap it was De Pasquale from Waters, Whincup, Davison, Mostert, B.Kostecki, van Gisbergen, Courtney, Percat and Coulthard.

De Pasquale opened up a small gap to the field as Waters came under increasing pressure from Whincup, who looked to pass at almost every corner. Further back and van Gisbergen was doing likewise to B.Kostecki for 6th. The matter was decided at the end of lap 2 when van Gisbergen moved up the inside at the final corner and then ran the Erebus Racing Commodore off the circuit and onto the grass at the entrance to the main straight. Kostecki surrendered a place in the top 10 as he pushed his way back onto the circuit proper. Stewards later handed van Gisbergen a 15 second penalty to be served during his compulsory pitstop, while Kostecki battled with a bent steering arm.

Waters and Winchup pitted together on lap 17 and De Pasquale made his stop one lap later to cover any gain from the undercut. De Pasquale maintained a slender lead on his return to the circuit but fell prey to cold tyres at Turn 2 and Waters swooped into the lead by Turn 3. Whincup’s race came undone in a similar fashion to his teammate when Race Control handed him a 15 second penalty for exceeding the speed limit at the pitlane entry road.

Shane van Gisbergen and Will Davison ran to lap 22 before making their stops. The additional 15 second penalty dropped the #97 to 15th, while Davison had troubles of his own when the left rear wheel nut refused to loosen, leaving Davison to finish the race with one well worn tyre.

With the spectre of a post race time penalty, Whincup set about damage control mode by pushing his Red Bull Ampol Commodore for all its worth. He closed on the leaders and moved past De Pasquale for 2nd as the race ticked down to the final 10 laps.

Waters went on the take the chequered flag in 1st from Whincup, De Pasquale, Mostert, Slade, van Gisbergen, Pye, Courtney, Hazelwood and Brown. De Pasquale inherited 2nd and Mostert 3rd when Whincup’s post race penalty was applied, which dropped the #88 to 5th.

“The old over and under. I knew I had to do it then,” Waters told Fox Sports of the move that handed him the race win. “I’m so pumped after we got smoked last weekend and to bounce back is absolutely unreal.”

“He’s got warm tyres, I had cold tyres,” De Pasqaule said of the moment Waters took the lead of the race after De Pasquale’s pitstop to Fox Sports. “Either he goes around the outside of me or the inside, you just have no grip there. Probably pitted one lap too late. Pole and a trophy is a pretty good day but there was a win out there that we didn’t get. We still have two more chances tomorrow.”

Photos: Cameron Waters FB

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