Waters takes a hat-trick of poles

By Thomas Miles

Date posted: 23 February 2025

Cam Waters’ pursuit of a perfect weekend in Sydney remains intact after he took pole in a rapid Shootout.

Waters denied Broc Feeney once again, this time by a tenth with a 1:29.6107 that was on edge.

The Tickford star is just the third driver to take three poles in a row at SMP and the first to do it since Brodie Kostecki achieved the feat at the end of 2023.

Will Brown was a big mover rising from projective 10th to fourth after sneaking into the Shootout.

Chaz Mostert was the big what if of the one-lap dash. The WAU star was purple in each of the first two sectors and was on track to beat Brown, only to throw the lap away with a costly mistake spinning at the final turn.

Under cloudless skies with temperatures touching 30 degrees, drivers battled a low grip surface at SMP and read how each lap unfolded…

P4 Will Brown 1:29.9979

After sneaking into the Shootout Brown sent it into the first turn and did a 26.321 at the opening split.

Kept the rear left in the bounds on the exit of 5 as he flowed the car well through the majority of the lap.

“Not a lot of grip to be honest and didn’t feel like I had what we had,” Brown said as he lamented a lack of traction on the hot track.

P9 David Reynolds 1:30.7152

Most experienced member of the one-lap dash taking it on today and lost a tenth to Brown in the opening split.

The rear end was not planted as Reynolds battled significant oversteer through the sweeping bends, most notably at Turn 5.

This proved costly as he was seven tenths adrift.

P7 Will Davison 1:30.2153

The man who took pole on the Sunday of the last SMP race battled understeer at the first turn which saw him lose three tenths on Brown in the first sector alone.

However, the car got better as the lap went on and Davison responded with an impressive purple second sector.

But in the end it was not enough to challenge the reigning champion, being two tenths away.

“It is good to be in the shootout today and I thought my lap was alright, so worried my dash was broken,” Davison said.

P6 James Golding 1:30.1122

After an unlucky weekend, the Shootout gave Golding a chance to shine and he more or less matched Brown’s opening split.

He was pushing hard and used all of the road coming out of Corporate Road and losing a tenth in the mid sector proved to be the only difference.

“I just tried to keep it as tidy as possible and I am pretty happy with that,” Golding said.

P5 Matt Payne 1:30.0989

On green tyres Payne made a late apex at Turn 3 as he had a good run through Turn 5.

Was just less than a tenth off Brown during the opening part of the lap and ending up squeezing between Brown and Golding.

“It was a bit better than yesterday’s lap and enjoyed it. Track getting hotter,” the Kiwi said.

P10 Chaz Mostert 1:41.4169

Green rears only Mostert took a wide line through Turn 2 and it paid off, being 0.008s up on the #1 and sector one.

Had a little slide through Turn 7 but this did not effect him as he found more time through the second split.

He looked set to take top spot from Brown, only for it to go all wrong at the final turn.

At the change of direction coming into the final left hander, Mostert got slightly out of shape and he could not catch it, with the #25 snapping and rotating backwards.

Mostert said he simply tried to find a bit too much.

“When you can get a bit greedy here and the track bites you. That is how hard we are pushing the limits. Car was feeling pretty blipping a little bit wrong and too aggressive on my side. Gutted not to get the starting position the team deserved tricky it is here,” Mostert said.

P8 Jack Le Brocq 1:30.4530

On roaded tyres he got a slight bit of grass coming out of Turn 3 and lost a tenth, while the deficit grew throughout the lap.

“Would have been nice to have new tyres and the track grip was not quite there,” he said.

P3 Brodie Kostecki 1:29.8523

With a fresh engine and green tyres Kostecki was on it and was the closest to Mostert at the first split.

Had a small moment through Turn 6, but this only helped him in a rapid second sector.

Kostecki found a tenth in the mid part of the lap and he carried on that momentum to be the first to knock off Brown by 0.145s.

“It was not too bad. Could not quite get the tyres fazed in but the Shell V-Power Mustang is a lot better today

P2 Broc Feeney 1:29.7199

Feeney went deep into Turn 1 and flew in the first sector, being 0.072s up.

The #88 was accurate throughout the lap and lost a small amount of time through the mid part of the lap.

It all came down to the run down the straight and Feeney flew in the last sector, finding the best part of two tenths, to deny the DJR driver.

“My reference lap didn’t work for the first time so I had no idea what was going on

P1 Cameron Waters 1:29.6107

Waters threw everything at the start of the lap and matched his Triple Eight rival at the opening sector.

He was pushing so hard for the majority of the lap and despite getting a lot of kerb coming out of the hairpin and a small lock up coming into the final turn, Waters was still a tenth clear.

“I had a little moment at nine and was worried I threw it away like Chaz did but conditions were real challenging with the wind and the sun, but I just can’t thank my team enough,” he said.

Image: Peter Norton Epic Sports Photography

2025 Sydney 500

Practice 1: A. De Pasquale 1:30.0226 2: D. Reynolds +0.4742 3: J. Courtney +0.5039

Qualifying 1: C. Waters 1:28.6968 2: B. Feeney +0.2544 3: M. Payne +0.4559

Race 1: C. Waters 2: C. Mostert 3: T. Randle

Qualifying: 1 C. Waters 1:28.8998 2: B. Feeney +0.2187 3: M. Payne +0.4045

Shootout: 1 C. Waters 1:29.1362 2: B. Feeney 1:29.3630 3: C. Mostert 1:29.3997

Race 2: C. Waters 2: B. Feeney +0.0308 3: W. Brown +0.1996

R3 Qualifying: 1 C. Waters 1:29.2090 2 B. Feeney +0.0928 3 B. Kostecki +0.1666

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Waters takes a hat-trick of poles

Cam Waters’ pursuit of a perfect weekend in Sydney remains intact after he took pole in a rapid Shootout.

2025 Sydney 500

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