Cameron Waters has won his second race of the 2023 season after holding off Shane van Gisbergen in an epic end to the opening race of the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500. 
 
In a highly entertaining outing, Waters led for a large portion of the race, beating van Gisbergen by just under two-tenths of a second, while David Reynolds rounded out the podium.  
 
Having secured pole position during the Top 10 Shootout, Waters was in fine form throughout the 85-lap race and fended off all challenges, with van Gisbergen’s late charge proving his toughest.
 
The battle between the two boiled down to the final few laps as van Gisbergen reduced the gap to within one-tenth of a second on the last lap, requiring Waters to produce his best defensive efforts.
 
The reigning champion then had multiple attempts at passing Waters but to no avail, with Waters stretching out the gap to half a second midway through the final lap, only for van Gisbergen to have one last charge in the final section.


Fortunately for the Tickford Racing star, he executed the final few corners perfectly, and crossed the finish line ahead of van Gisbergen, securing his first win since the opening outing of the season. 

"Unbelievable, it's been such a shocking year, to be honest," Waters said.

The emotion on my teams' face says it all. So happy. Shane was coming for me, but there was no way I was gonna let a bloody GM beat me again.

"I had a bit of fuel-saving to do, and a bit of tyre-saving. I had a few kerb hops up my sleeve, so I made sure I was set for the last five laps. I gave it everything, he got to me rear bar, but he was never getting past me."
 
Although he didn’t win the race, van Gisbergen also produced an impressive performance, as he started the race in third place but fell to fifth off the line – the Kiwi eventually worked himself into third place, before passing Reynolds in the final stages to begin his chase down of Waters.
 
The runner-up finish saw van Gisbergen close the gap to championship leader Brodie Kostecki, after the Erebus Motorsport star finished in the top five – a solid recovery from the West Australian after qualifying 10th.
 
Taking out fourth place ahead of Kostecki, was Thomas Randle who was solid throughout the race – capping off an impressive return to form for the Tickford Racing and the Ford Mustangs, with three of the top five being Fords.


Rounding out the top 10 behind the fifth-placed Kostecki were Scott Pye, Andre Heimgartner, Chaz Mostert, Matthew Payne and James Courtney. 
 
Just missing out on a top-10 finish was Will Brown, who like his teammates, enjoyed a solid charge up the field – finishing P11 after starting from the back of the grid. 
 
On the contrary, Payne would have been disappointed with his finish, after he started from the front row alongside Waters, but fell to ninth.
 
View full results from Race 25.
 
The Repco Supercars Championship resumes tomorrow with Race 26 ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout at 11:35am AEST, before the race begins at 2:15pm AEST.