Cam Waters has enjoyed a sensational victory in the opening race of the Pizza Hut Winton Supersprint, denying Shane van Gisbergen his first win at the circuit since 2017.

In what was a drought-breaking win of his own, a brilliant start off the line helped the Victorian claim his first win for the season.

Having started in second place alongside van Gisbergen, Waters got the jump on the polesitter and managed to convert the good start to the race win.

The duo were close throughout the 36-lap race, but it wasn’t until the final few where their battle truly came alive as van Gisbergen did his best to 

And while van Gisbergen has had the mental edge over Waters as of late, the Tickford Racing star did his best to hold off the Supercars Championship leader despite a last ditch effort on the final turn.

The two ended up making slight contact at the corner, but Waters held firm and crossed the line to win his first race at Winton and Tickford’s first since 2015. 

“It was an awesome race,” Waters said post-race.

“I had to have something in the tank at the end, I knew he’d (van Gisbergen) have a crack.

“It’s a massive relief… massive thanks to Tickford for their work.”

Rounding out the podium after a disappointing qualifying was David Reynolds, a position earned thanks to gutsy racing and a fantastic strategy from Grove Racing.

Having waited a long time to pit, Reynolds was one of the last to be brought into the pit stops and it was a move that paid dividends as he came out on fresher tyres and usurped Chaz Mostert on the podium in the final stages of the race.

A similar strategy also worked for teammate Lee Holdsworth, who went on to finish fifth ahead of Scott Pye and Brodie Kostecki, Anton De Pasquale, Andre Heimgartner and Broc Feeney rounded out the top 10.

Click here to view results from the race. 
The weekend resumes with another two races tomorrow, with the first race to take place at 12:25pm AEST.