Cam Waters has picked up his second win of the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship after producing a solid performance during the first race of the WD-40 Townsville Supersprint.
In what was a chaotic race, Waters claimed the victory over pole sitter Anton De Pasquale and Walkinshaw Andretti United’s Chaz Mostert
An impressive top 10 shootout saw the Tickford Racing driver qualify on the front row before showing plenty of pace in the first stint of the race behind race leader De Pasquale.
With Jamie Whincup jumping Will Davison at the start to slot into third, the trio of frontrunners were enjoying a good battle, before Waters and Whincup took their compulsory pit stop.
The move saw Waters take the lead off De Pasquale, making the most of the undercut leaving the Shell V Power Race Team driver unable to defend his lead on cold tyres.
Once Waters took top spot, he never let it go and the Victorian brought his Ford Mustang home without any further drama, beating Whincup and De Pasquale to the chequered flag.
"The old over and under... I knew I had to do it then," Waters said of his move on De Pasquale.
"I'm so pumped. Obviously last week we got smoked, and to bounce back is unreal.
A post-race time penalty to Whincup for speeding in pit lane pit saw him fall from second to fifth place behind Mostert and Tim Slade, who secured the best ever result for Tim Blanchard Cooldrive Racing.
Putting in a mammoth stint during Saturday’s race, Slade started 19th and pitted after just nine laps - a move that paid dividends as the South Australian made the most progress out of the whole field, moving up 15 places.
Despite suffering from serious tyre degradation, Slade held firm and just squeezed into fourth by the smallest of margins after Whincup’s penalty with only seven tenths splitting the duo post-race.
The 2017 Supercars champion wasn’t the only driver from the Red Bull Holden Race Team to receive a penalty - current championship leader Shane van Gisbergen awarded a 15-second stop penalty for a racing infringement with Brodie Kostecki.
Although he dropped down to 17th after carrying-out the penalty in his pit stop, the New Zealander charged up the field to eventually finish the 39-lap race in P6.
Rounding out the top 10 was James Courtney, Scott Pye, Todd Hazelwood and Will Brown.
The WD-40 Townsville Supersprint continues tomorrow with two races to take place at Reid Park, the first at 12:45pm AEST.