Hi to all you Supercars Fans around the world!
The opening round of the 2025 Supercars Championship, the Thrifty Sydney 500 was held on February 21 – 23, at the Sydney Motorsport Park (SMSP). What an opening round it was.
For older readers, you may remember SMSP under its original name, “Eastern Creek International Raceway”.
Legend Mark Skaife holds the record for the most wins at this venue. He achieved his 10th win back in 2007 and the record still hasn’t been beaten.
It was last year at this location that James Courtney made his retirement announcement. Sadly, this will be his 20th and final season as a full time driver.
It will also be Triple Eight’s final season driving Carmaro’s before moving to Ford Mustangs.
The pre-race sessions kicked off the event on Friday. Anton de Pasquale was fastest in Practice 1 and Cameron Waters was fastest in Qualifying earning pole position for the first race.
Broc Feeney was on the starting grid front row alongside the pole sitter.
Last years’ champion Will Brown started 11th on the grid because he missed his last run in qualifying.
As the lights turned green for the first race of the year, Cameron Waters got the jump on Broc Feeney and led into turn 1 for the first of 26 laps.
On lap 4 Chaz Mostert clocked the fastest lap of the race so far, 30.932 seconds.
It wasn’t long before Cameron Waters made a new lap record, 130.657 seconds. He had the lead and was 1.5 seconds clear of Broc Feeney.
On lap 7 the first 3 cars pitted early; Kai Allen, David Reynolds and Brodie Kostecki.
Broc Feeney in 2nd place started to slow with a puncture on the left rear. He had to head to the pits knowing in such a short race there would be no catching up and cost him a podium finish.
Feeney’s exit from 2nd place on the track left a bigger gap between leader Cameron Waters and Andre Heimgartner who inherited 2nd place from Feeney.
There were 6 cars left to pit and once they did, Cameron Waters assumed the lead with a 17.815 second gap over Andre Heimgartner.
With 9 laps to go Andre Heimgartner was the last to take his mandatory pit stop. This handed 2nd place over to Chaz Mostert and again increased Cameron Waters lead.
Waters continued to drive in winning form. Nobody could make much of a dent on his lead.
Cameron Waters crossed the finish line 16.8 second ahead of Chaz Mostert in 2nd. It was a further 21.3 seconds back to Thomas Randle in 3rd place.
A spectacular win considering how short the race was.
Results for Race 1:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
3rd Thomas Randle – Castrol Racing
In Race 2 Cameron Waters started on pole position again. Broc Feeney was also alongside him again.
As they took off Cameron Waters led through turn 1 for the first of 52 laps.
The opening laps were totally out of control.
At turn 2 James Golding went off the track costing him 10 places and finding himself at the back of the pack.
Aaron Love and Kai Allen ran wide exiting turn 7. Kai Allens’ front right tyre was peeled off and he drove back to the pits on a bare wheel rim. The officials then gave him a 15 second time penalty for causing the incident.
The mayhem continued and culminated on lap 8 when Richie Stanaway had a fire coming from underneath his car and the safety car was deployed. Most of the field took this opportunity to pit.
Broc Feeney was in the pit bay with Will Brown double stacked and waiting. However, Brown was blocking Cameron Waters from exiting his pit bay, so Feeney returned to the track in the lead.
The safety car left the track on lap 13 with Broc Feeney in control.
Around the middle of the race Broc Feeney pitted from the number 1 spot. Cameron Waters was now out front and had clear track, but he wasn’t able to gain enough time to hold the lead.
On lap 35 Cameron Waters finally pitted leaving Matt Payne as the only driver yet to take his stop. Once Payne did pit Broc Feeney assumed the lead.
Cameron Waters returned on track and was soon up the front again. He made it look too easy when he passed Will Brown for second place.
With 13 laps remaining Broc Feeney had 5.7 seconds over Cameron Waters, with Will Brown 1.8 seconds adrift.
Waters kept creeping up on Feeney. By the time they reached lap 45 there was a mere 1 second between them.
On the 4th last lap Cameron Waters closed the gap too much and actually made contact with Broc Feeney. Waters ended up in the lead but had to redress (allowing Feeney back into the lead spot) or risk a penalty.
Meanwhile, Will Brown in 3rd place had caught up and was right on their tails.
They three drivers stuck to each other like glue.
On final corner of the final lap Cameron Waters pulled a desperate stunt you don’t see often. He went wide and side-drafted through the bend, then shot past Feeney. It was risky but Waters managed to execute it without fault.
Waters sped down the straight to the finish line before Feeney could catch a breath. There was only 0.031 seconds between them. Will Brown was no slouch coming in 3rd just 0.168 seconds behind.
It was one of the tightest ends to a race I have seen in ages.
Results for Race 2:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Broc Feeney – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
Once again for the third time in the three races at this opening event, Cameron Waters started on pole position with Broc Feeney alongside him.
As they took off for Race 3 Cameron Waters got the jump and led into turn 1 for the first of 52 laps.
He was under immediate attack from the two Red Bull Ampol Racing drivers. Will Brown took over his teammate Broc Feeney for second place.
Chaz Mostert was up 3 places to 8th after starting 11th on the grid.
Mostert went on the charge. He was incredible and was already in 4th place when he took his first pit stop around lap 12.
By the middle of the race the bad weather was well and truly on the way. The clouds were getting darker and darker. Teams were prepared with wet weather tyres just in case.
On lap 40 Broc Feeney tried to get around Cooper Murray but they made contact. Murray went spinning and came to a stop. A fire started from underneath his car! Amazingly it was extinguished as soon as he re-started the engine. Lucky break.
Broc Feeney was able to continue but lost several seconds and dropped back to 5th. This was the second time on the weekend that bad luck had cost him a podium finish.
It was about this time that the overhanging black clouds broke, and the rain started to fall. With so few laps remaining it was a difficult decision whether to call cars in for wet weather tyres or persist to the end of the race.
With 6 laps to go the rain was bucketing down. Cameron Waters was still in the lead and 10 seconds up the road from Will Brown. In this weather he was going to be very hard to catch.
Once again Waters was making everyone wonder if he was possessed by demons or gods. It seemed heavenly how he kept his lead.
He crossed the finish line 7.6 seconds clear of Will Brown. 3.447 seconds later Chaz Mostert came in 3rd place.
It was an incredible way for Cameron Waters to end the weekend with 3 wins of 3 races.
Results for Race 3:
1st Cameron Waters – Tickford Racing
2nd Will Brown – Red Bull Ampol Racing
3rd Chaz Mostert – Walkinshaw Andretti United
Cameron Waters leads the championship by 60 points.
The next event is Melbourne Supersprint as a sub-category to the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Until next time, keep revving.