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Waters snares breakthrough Supercars win

Ed JacksonAAP
Supercar driver Anton De Pasquale has had a double breakthrough in qualifying at Tailem Bend.
Camera IconSupercar driver Anton De Pasquale has had a double breakthrough in qualifying at Tailem Bend. Credit: AAP

Ford driver Cam Waters has bounced back from a race one nightmare to claim his first victory of the Supercars season at Tailem Bend.

After crashing out of Sunday's first 24-lap race in South Australia in the opening lap, Waters made the most of a hasty rebuild by his Tickford Racing garage to hold off championship leader Shane Van Gisbergen and secure the third race win of his Supercars career.

The victory is a real breakthrough for Waters after three second-place finishes in 2021 without a win until that point.

That result seemed a million miles away after the right-hand rear side of his Mustang was effectively destroyed in a first lap collision in Sunday's opening race, former teammate Chaz Mostert colliding with Waters' Monster Energy car in a multi-vehicle incident.

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A rebuild that took up the entire two-hour break between races paid dividends as Waters hit the front when race one winner Anton De Pasquale's Shell V-Power Mustang suffered engine troubles early in race two.

"Im a lot happier than I was after the first race this morning," Waters said.

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"Didn't really think I'd be up here after seeing all the damage out of the car after the crash.

"Massive credit to the boys for fixing it. It was pretty bad and they gave me a fast, straight car."

Van Gisbergen finished second to go with his third-place finish in race one, the back-to-back podiums on his 32nd birthday extending his championship lead to 190 points as his rivals suffered.

As well as Mostert and Waters failing to finish the opening race, Van Gisbergen's Red Bull Ampol Racing teammate Jamie Whincup finished 11th and then fourth in the second race.

Van Gisbergen is now on 1112 points, with Whincup second on 922.

Mostert is further back in third on 866 points while Waters stays fifth in the standings despite his win.

Fourth-place is Will Davison who finished third in Sunday's second race after finishing second in a Dick Johnson Racing one-two in race one.

Despite his race two failure, Sunday was De Pasquale's best day at his new team, securing the first two pole positions of his career in the morning and then a maiden win for DJR in race one.

The next stop in the Supercars championship is the Winton SuperSprint in Victoria on May 29 and 30.

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