Supercars 2025: Cam Waters’ new partnership with former Bathurst winner Mark Winterbottom can help him claim a breakthrough

But the Ford ace hopes this year could be his best shot yet for a long-awaited breakthrough as he leans on new co-driver Mark Winterbottom’s experience as a past winner to help him finally take the walk down the victory aisle.

Waters has long been one of the best credentialed drivers in the Supercars field yet to taste success at the Bathurst 1000, or to win a championship.

He is a two-time runner-up at Mount Panorama, finishing in the top-five four out of the past five years in the Great Race and has also been a dual runner-up for the Supercars crown.

But Waters has declared he has a “really good shot” at finally adding his name to the list of champions at the mountain alongside his new co-driver – former series champion and Bathurst winner Winterbottom – this year.

Waters and Winterbottom got their partnership off to an impressive start when they finished second in the opening endurance race behind Brodie Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood at The Bend 500 last month.

While the 31-year-old acknowledged he had been fortunate to have been in contention several times in the biggest race of the year, he said he had already waited long enough to climb onto the top step of the podium at Mount Panorama.

“I think I have had a lot of good opportunities going up to Bathurst and obviously had some great results, but not the one that we wanted, which is to win it,” Waters said.

“Definitely this year, I’ve got a really good shot at it. Frosty is going to be an awesome co-driver to have alongside me.

“It’s definitely probably one of my better chances for the Great Race.

“It’s great that we’ve been competitive and fighting for wins up there, but I probably would have liked to have had a win by now.

“But that’s OK, that’s part of the journey at Bathurst, isn’t it? And we’ve just got to go there and put your best foot forward and hopefully it’s enough.”

Waters and Winterbottom were former teammates at Tickford Racing before the latter’s move to Team 18 in 2019.

Winterbottom, who retired as a full-time Supercars driver at the end of last year, won at Mount Panorama in 2013 alongside co-driver Steven Richards.

“He’s a great guy and has obviously got so much experience in a Supercar,” Waters said.

“(A co-driver) fresh out of Gen3 is a really good thing to have on our side and he’s won the race and won a championship so he has done more than what I have.

“It’s great to have him back at Tickford, being his teammate for a number of years before he left. Now, it’s like he’s never left.

“So we’ll definitely draw on his experience and see what we can achieve.”

Waters said the pair’s result at The Bend had given them a shot in the arm ahead of the biggest race of the year.

“We had a really good race at The Bend and I think we are really well prepared for Bathurst so we’ll go up there and see what we can do,” Waters said.

“Obviously it was great to get through that weekend with no mistakes. We had a really fast car, obviously quick enough to win it and to run second was really good and obviously we wanted to win it so there is a bit of fire in the belly to go one better at Bathurst.”

Winterbottom said Waters deserved to have a Bathurst 1000 win to his name and was determined to help him get one.

“I would love him to win it,” Winterbottom said.

“I had saying people deserve it, but he is one of the top-line drivers that should get a Bathurst.

“I hope that I can help him win it. I would love to win it with him.”

Waters made a blistering start to the 2025 Supercars season with a clean sweep of the opening three races of the year at Sydney Motorsport Park to stamp himself as an early favourite for this year’s championship.

While there have been podiums for Waters since the opening round, he has not yet been able to climb back onto the top step, but two second-place finishes in his last two starts has him edging closer to a breakthrough.

Waters sits fourth in the driver championship standings and has already locked in his place in the inaugural Supercars finals.

“The start of the year was amazing and it probably made the rest of the year look a bit worse, but I think we’ve still been competitive for every round, it’s just been a little bit up and down through those weekends,” Waters said of his campaign.

“So, we kind of have to find a little bit of that form across the whole weekend and I think we’re starting to pinpoint that and coming into rounds which I really enjoy going to will be good and the team is usually quick, we’ll have fast cars at those tracks from I guess now towards the end of the year.

“We’re P4 in the points and probably could have been a lot higher if a couple of little things didn’t happen, but still obviously in it for sure and obviously locked into the finals.

“So we’ve just got to focus on Bathurst, get through that and we can hopefully win that and worry about winning the rest of them from there.”

Waters sits second behind Kostecki in the standings for the Enduro Cup and a strong Bathurst result could also help deliver a handy boost for his finals campaign.

“That 25 points would be super handy going into the finals,” Waters said.

“Obviously (sitting) second behind Brodie at the moment, but need to have a nice strong Bathurst and try and get those points.

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“I’m a big fan of (the finals). There will be that much hype around the last three rounds with people getting knocked out and there will be a bit more aggression out there I think.

“There will be a lot of talking points, so for the category it is a really cool thing that they have done and I’m just hoping I’m part of it come (the grand final in) Adelaide.”

ENDS