WATERS FOCUSED ON HIS OWN PERFORMANCE

Supercars Championship contender Cameron Waters remains focused on his own job heading into the upcoming round at Hidden Valley as he attempts to close the margin to leader Shane van Gisbergen.

Tickford Racing driver Waters carries good momentum into Darwin, after winning the most recent race at The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.

Hidden Valley had not been van Gisbergen nor Triple Eight Race Engineering’s best circuit as both have lacked consistency up north, the Kiwi’s last win coming in his 2016 championship winning season.

Waters however stated he’s focused on his package and not so much on his rival’s form approaching Supercars first race in what will be five weeks since The Bend Motorsport Park.

“I don’t really look at it in that respect, on how good the competition goes at particular tracks,” Waters told Auto Action.

“For us it’s more (a case of) focusing on our car, and what we’ve got to do to maximise.”

Like Waters, new Dick Johnson Racing recruit Anton De Pasquale scored his first win of the season at The Bend. The Tickford Racing driver believes De Pasquale and former teammate Will Davison will carry their good form through the rest of the season.

“One hundred percent DJR will be fast there,” Waters said. “They’ve always been traditionally pretty strong at Darwin.

“They’ll be up there no doubt, like they will be all year, it will be a tough old year I think, but it’ll be fun.”

Waters displayed strong pace in the second Darwin round last year and was unlucky to come away with only one podium after contact in the final race with Jamie Whincup.

“We had a fairly good round at Darwin 2 last year,” he recalled. “We’ve just got to kind of reflect on what we did there (last year) and marry that up with what we’ve learnt since then.”

Waters has continued his front-running form from last year to firm as a serious title contender, which he believes stems from the team’s more than 100-days on the road through the COVID period.

“Being away on the road last year helped us work closer together, knuckle down and dig deep into what we are actually needing I think,” he said.

“There were a few things we lacked last year that we have improved on, it’s not just one thing, it’s a lot of little things.

“We have a better understanding of our car, what it likes and wants, which enables us to turn up at different racetracks and be more consistent.”

Supposed to debut at Winton, the Dunlop Supersoft tyre will be raced on for the first time in the Darwin heat, which is expected to add further spice to the event.

“The debut of the Supersoft could be a bit of a baptism of fire with it being so hot,” Waters believes.

“It should provide really good racing, some more emphasis on strategy, and how you play your tyres over the weekend, so I’m looking forward to that aspect of it.”

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