Bathurst 1000: Ford star Cam Waters determined to turn around luckless 2023 campaign at Mount Panorama

For the past three years, the Tickford Racing ace has stood on the podium at Mount Panorama watching other drivers celebrate victory in the great race.

While he acknowledges he had been fortunate to be in contention each of those years, Waters is determined to get his hands on the big prize.

The Monster Mustang driver was runner-up at Bathurst in 2020 and again in 2021 before finishing third at the mountain last year.

Now, the 29-year-old is determined to turn around a luckless 2023 campaign with success in the biggest race of the year.

“It’s been frustrating for sure, but we’ve been fast and been in contention the last few years,” Waters said.

“I guess it’s great to be on the podium there every year for the last three years, but we go up there to win it and if you don’t you end up a little bit disappointed.

“It was 2020 that was probably the year we should have won it. We had a fast car and just lost track position. (In) 2021, we did not have outright speed and then last year we got turned around and lost all our track position and had come back from last.

“You have just got to take the positives out of it that we have been fast around there for a few years now, but we just need to execute. Hopefully it all comes together and we don’t have any of this rotten luck and we make our own luck and we can get it done.

“Bathurst is a wild race and throws everything at you. Hopefully we can get it done this year.”

Teaming with co-driver James Moffat for the third straight year for his Bathurst 1000 assault, Waters is hoping for a change of fortunes from what his 2023 campaign has so far delivered.

Waters was lucky to walk away unharmed when he was forced to flee a burning car after it erupted into flames at the Darwin Triple Crown.

Then in a freak mishap at the Sandown 500, his race hopes were cruelled after the rear wing of his Ford was knocked off the car by a stray wheel – which had flown off the Mustang of Garth Tander/David Reynolds – while co-driver Moffat was behind the wheel.

“I have tried to work out where I walked under all these ladders and past all these black cats, but it is what it is,” Waters said.

“I just need to keep trying and put that behind me. I try to think that I can make my own luck and put myself in situations which you don’t need good luck for. So just trying to stay positive and just looking forward to the biggest race of the year for us.

“Reflecting on Sandown, it was a bit of a shame, really. We had a pretty competitive car, I thought, we had done everything right up until that point and none of us did anything wrong and to have a wheel come off another car and bounce along and take your wing out, it’s pretty unheard of.

“It was pretty disappointing, but I think in those situations you have just got to look at the positives, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Runner-up in the Supercars championship two out of the past three years, Waters this year sits seventh in the drivers’ standings in what has been a challenging year for many of the Ford entries.

But he said a Bathurst win would quickly turn one of his “worst seasons” into one of his best.

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“This year has been pretty average for the Ford guys and myself, having so much rotten luck. It has just been a really challenging year,” Waters said.

“If I could get the job done at Bathurst and get the win it would go from one of the worst seasons for a long time to one of my best.

“So, I’d forget about the rest of the year and I would probably start celebrating until December and then I will worry about next year.”

Originally published as Bathurst 1000: Ford star Cam Waters determined to turn around luckless 2023 campaign at Mount Panorama