Tickford Racing driver Waters took maximum advantage of pole position to jump into an immediate lead and took early control the race, to take his second win of the season, and just the third for Ford.
But to do so he had hold off a charging van Gisbergen. The three-time Supercars champion was clearly the best of the Chevrolet drivers during the race, and he had to work hard after running fifth early in the race.
But superior tyre management allowed him to pick off cars over the second half of the race, taking second from David Reynolds with 10 laps remaining.
“Unbelievable, it has been such a shocking year. The emotion on my team’s face says it all-important,” said Waters, who started from pole for the 22nd time in his career.
“I had a bit of fuel saving to do and some tyre saving. He got to my rear bar but he was never going to pass me.”
Photo by: Edge Photographics
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Van Gisbergen had to be content with second, which closes the points gap to series leader Brodie Kostecki to 104 points.
“I lost a little bit at the start and tried to claw it back,” said the Triple Eight driver. “Congrats to Cam and his team, an awesome win by them.
“I want to finish off the year strong and get some good results.”
Reynolds looked like giving Ford a rare 1-2 finish in the race by taking advantage of an early pitstop to make ground to get into second place before a late technical problem.
“Massive result,” said Reynolds, who started from fifth on the grid before an early pitstop gave his clear road in the opening third of the race.
“I worked really hard, that middle stint set it up for me, the end stint I had something wrong in the car. My brake bias cable got jammed, it destroyed your tyres and the last 15 laps were terrible for me.”
For the opening half of the race, it looked like a Ford parade, with the pursuit of Waters led by Matt Payne. On his first appearance on the Gold Coast the 21-year-old had put his Grove Racing Ford Mustang second on the grid and even challenged Waters early in the race.
But any hopes Payne had of a top six result ended with a five-second time penalty for failing to comply with the ‘Gentlemen’s agreement’ that drivers followed at the 150mph entry to the track’s Main Beach Chicane.
He rubbed panels with James Courtney and copped a second five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. Payne had to settle for ninth at the flag.
Close behind over the opening laps was Thomas Randle, who was slowed by a flat-spotted tyre early in the race, and Chaz Mostert, who himself was nursing a bent rear wheel rim after a Lap 1 clash. Randle had his day ruined by a problem with his refuelling rig and later had to serve a five-second penalty for not observing track limits.
Fifth was a strong result for Kostecki, who started from 10th on the grid after having his Top 10 Shootout lap negated when he exceeded track limits at the Beach Chicane.
Andre Heimgartner was sixth in his Brad Jones Racing Chevrolet, ahead of Chaz Mostert (Walkinshaw Andretti United Ford), Scott Pye (Team 18 Chevrolet) and Payne.
Rounding out the top 10 was Tickford Ford’s James Courtney, one spot up on Will Brown, who started 25th and last after a transmission problem in qualifying with his Erebus Motorsport Chevrolet.
Race results:
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