Cameron Waters endured a late assault by Shane van Gisbergen to win the final Supercars race of the weekend at Tailem Bend.
The win is Waters first of the season and his first since his triumph at the same circuit last year.
To add to the celebration, in the day’s earlier race, Waters was eliminated on lap one after being wiped out by Chaz Mostert.
“We had a fast car all weekend,” he said. “We were quick in the wet, and then you know what happened in the first race today.
“The boys worked so bloody hard to fix the car, and not just fix me, but give me one that’s capable of winning.”
Though he did have to work for it.
After being elevated to the race lead when erstwhile leader Anton de Pasquale suffered an engine drama, Waters had to resist an onrush by van Gisbergen over the final eight laps.
The Bend is not the easiest track on the calendar to overtake on, yet van Gisbergen sought a way past Waters in vain.
The Kiwi put up several half-hearted overtaking moves, though all proved unsuccessful.
Van Gisbergen’s best opportunity came at turn one as he exited the pitlane and Waters moved back into the race lead. Getting side-by-side with the Mustang, van Gisbergen didn’t have the legs to get ahead.
Despite ending the weekend winless, van Gisbergen extends his championship lead to 190 points.
Dick Johnson Racing enjoyed a 1-2 finish in the day’s earlier race. But today saw another victory slip away on lap three.
De Pasquale led the race from pole position and had opened up a one-second lead over Waters.
However, the No.11 quickly lost momentum when his V8-powered Mustang dropped to seven cylinders.
The sister car of Will Davison did salvage a solid result with a third place.
Jamie Whincup was fourth, unable to match the pace of his teammate. An orchestrated swap of position between Whincup and van Gisbergen ensured the No.97 was able to fight for the win while Whincup’s speed drifted away.
Chaz Mostert came home fifth, ahead of Nick Percat, whose Commodore required a push by his teammate back to the pits after running out of fuel after the chequered flag.
Andre Heimgartner ended a strong weekend, which saw him clinch his maiden win, in tenth.
Fabian Coulthard also demonstrated glimpses of potential in the first half of the race, though he would slip back to 17th.
