HISTORY will be against Cam Waters and Richie Stanaway as they seek out the Sandown-Bathurst double this Sunday but the young duo won’t be short on confidence as they prepare to tackle Mount Panorama.
The youthful pair, at a combined age of 48, made a massive statement with their recent success in Victoria.
Victory has thrust Waters into the Supercars Championship’s top 10 and now the former development series champion is out to break new ground.
It’s been five years since the Sandown round of the Supercars season has taken place directly before Bathurst and no driver has managed to win both races in the same championship since the calendar change.
Mark Winterbottom (2015) and Jamie Whincup (2013) have come closest to achieving the feat when their Sandown success was backed up by a runner-up finish at Bathurst.
Craig Lowndes and Mark Skaife in 2010 were the last drivers to win the round prior to Bathurst and then go on to win at Mount Panorama.
If the pace from the Prodrive Racing pair at Sandown is anything to go by then they deserve to among the discussion for winning Bathurst candidates.
“It’s pretty awesome to come here with a lot of confidence from Sandown. Obviously Richie and I are driving well, the car’s fast, we’ve got a good package and a great shot at winning it this year,” Waters said on Wednesday.
“You say that, but you do have to have a kind of reset for this. It’s a completely different race and you need different things to win it. We’re confident but we’ve got a lot of work in front of us.
“It’s awesome coming to Bathurst. It’s the biggest race of the year for us. Rolling in here on Monday night, seeing the Mount Panorama sign, it’s quite special.
“Each day it gets a little more full-on and by Sunday you’re ready to get into it.”
Both Waters and Stanaway make a return to Mount Panorama with encouraging results from the 2016 edition of the race.
Waters partnered with Jack Le Brocq last year and finished just shy of a podium in fourth place, while Stanaway and Chris Pither beat many of their more fancied rivals to come home 12th.
“We probably weren’t quite quick enough last year but fourth is fourth,” Waters said.
“We’ve had our ups and downs this year while trying to find out where we need to car to be. At Sandown we tried a few new things and it worked really well for us. I’m not sure if it will work every weekend but I hope it will.
“The category is so tight. You don’t need much to move forward. If you qualify well then you can stay there.”
It would certainly be wrong to call the Sandown victory a ‘breakthrough’ moment for Waters, who showed his potential as far as six years ago thanks to his Australian Formula Ford Championship crown.
However, the Sandown triumph has certainly raised the profile of the Mildura native.
“It was my first win so it’s obviously going to be a memorable one,” he said.
“There’s always improvements we can make on the car and package. We did win at Sandown but the car wasn’t perfect.
“We’re always working out how to go faster. Because the category’s so tight you can’t afford to sit still.”
