Waters skates to pole in soaked Shootout

Cameron Waters is the first driver to take a Supercars pole at Taupo after overcoming docile conditions in a soaked Top 10 Shootout.

Waters was impressive being the only driver to record a 1.34s lap in the fully wet conditions to get his 24th pole position and second of the season.

He was a full half a second ahead of championship leader Will Brown and leading Kiwi Andre Heimgartner.

Drivers were greeted with an extremely soaked Taupo circuit to make the one-lap dash even more treacherous.

Unfortunately the spectacle was slightly diminished as the rain got heavier throughout the session and conditions significantly favoured the early runners.

Read how all 10 tip-toed their way around the 3.32km twisty and technical layout.

P4: Tim Slade 1:35.5591

Slade was the “pioneer” as the first to take on the slippery circuit.

Made full use of the kerbs in the twisty opening sector and got slightly crossed up coming out of the turn 11 hairpin which affected his entry to the main straight.

Recorded a time that ended up being good enough for fourth as the last to be within a second of pole man Waters.

“It has been a while since I have done this,” Slade said.

“One corner at turn 5 I thought I would use the kerb to make it turn and it did too much and upset the rear.

“It was always going to be tough as the first one out.”

P3: Andre Heimgartner 1:35.2789

The first of the Kiwis started brilliantly, being three tenths up on the first sector.

Matched Slade at the second split and produced a well executed and calculated lap with limited wheel spin to beat the PremiAir driver by 0.280s.

“It was a bit of an unknown out here what it was going to be like and the new stuff was pretty slippery,” Heimgartner said.

“Don’t know if it will hold up but good, solid run nonetheless.”

P1: Cam Waters 1:34.7415

Waters took full advantage before the heavy rain came and nailed his lap to be half a second ahead of all of his rivals in similar conditions.

He did well to dance the car through the bends and did not need the inside kerb at turn 3.

Was one tenth off Heimgartner in first sector but flipped the difference with a fast second sector and completed the lap with a committed run through the final chicane.

Emerged a strong half a second up on Heimgartner and was pleased with his performance, which was good enough for pole.

“I was pretty happy with the lap to be honest and the car was quite nice driving in the lap,” Waters said immediately afterwards.

P2: Will Brown 1:35.2426

Will Brown was Waters’ greatest threat going immediately afterwards and started strong.

Despite what was described by the commentators as a “conservative” approach into turn 1 he was up on Waters at the first split and carried on that speed with a purple second sector.

However, Brown battled in the final part of the lap and fell half a second short of the #6 but enough to be on the front row.

“Not too bad but probably did not maximise it,” Brown reflected.

“Still pretty tidy and did not make a mistake.”

P5: Ryan Wood 1:36.2890

Ryan Wood saved his rookie shootout for his first race on home soil and was greeted with some of the most challenging conditions imaginable.

Put his previous Toyota and SuperTourer experience of Taupo to good use, but battled to wrestle the Mustang around turn 1 and was half a second down after the first sector.

Had a stronger second sector but ended up seven tenths off the rest of the previous runners.

P6: Cam Hill 1:36.9886

Cam Hill attacked the kerbs early in the lap but lost seven tenths in the twisty opening section and hugged the inside of the long turn 11.

By now it was clear the rain stepped up and in the worsening conditions Hill was a further seven tenths off Wood.

“It does seem like it is raining a bit more,” Hill confirmed.

“I gave it everything I had and just wanted to keep it on the island.”

P10: Will Davison 1:39.8783

Will Davison took on his 71st Top 10 Shootout but had tough conditions to contend with.

Davison started the lap with similar pace to Hill across the opening sector but had a massive moment at turn 9.

The veteran managed to just catch his #17 Mustang in the knick of time at the fast right hander to avoid a tour of the grass. As a result Davison was seven tenths off Hill.

“Not good, no excuses, I just buggered it up. I did not do a good job,” a frustrated Davison said.

P7: Chaz Mostert 1:37.5455

Chaz Mostert gave it everything despite the soaked track and had a strong start being only four tenths off the pace across the first sector.

He had to nurse it coming out of turns 9, 11 and 14, but still did enough to stay out of trouble and beat Davison.

“Obviously a bit disappointed the NZ gods did not look favourably on us,” Mostert said.

“The car feels good in the wet conditions.”

P9: Anton De Pasquale 1:39.4817

Anton De Pasquale battled in the tough conditions and tiptoed out of turns 1 and 3 as puddles became evident around the track.

He was 3.2s off at the end of the second sector and did well to stay on the black stuff to emerge ahead of his teammate.

“It is hard,” De Pasquale said post lap.

“First lap in the wet in the shootout and it is what it is.”

P8: Matt Payne 1:38.5470

Despite taking out qualifying, the New Zealand weather was not on home hero Payne’s side.

He was only six tenths off first sector and lots of turn 4 kerb as the #19 looked pretty planted despite the sketchy conditions.

Aside from coming out of the final corner, there was minimal sliding for Payne and he managed to beat both the DJR cars by the best part of a second despite receiving the worst of the weather.

“It was pretty tough out there,” Payne said.

“Looks like it has rained more than the start.

“Tough getting first in the last session and probably not having the best of the conditions, but we will race hard from P8.”

Image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography

Taupo Super400 Top 10 Shootout results

Taupo Super400 schedule (all times AEDT)

Friday, April 19

Practice: 1: C. Mostert 1:26.4937 2: M. Payne +0.0318 3: W. Davison +0.0508

Saturday, April 20

Qualifying Race 7: 08.20

Top 10 Shootout: 10.00

Race 7 (60 laps): 13.05

Sunday, April 21

Qualifying Race 8: 08.45

Top 10 Shootout: 10.25

Race 7 (60 laps): 13.05

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