Words with Cam Waters: Toughest quali sessions of the season

Queensland Raceway. It’s a pretty straightforward, very flat circuit. But I’m going into this weekend expecting two of the toughest qualifying sessions we will face all season.

It’s going to be so tight in qualifying. There is only six corners, so you can’t afford to get a single thing wrong – because there’s just no time to make up for mistakes. One little mistake is going to cost big time in terms of grid position.

It will come down to the one-percenters. It will be crucial to phase the tyre right, warm it up properly, and then get every little last bit out of the car on your best lap.

It’s all going to be so important this weekend.

It should be a fun weekend. Last year I relatively well there in the Dunlop Series; I qualified on pole and would have won all three races if I hadn’t have made a mistake in Race 2. Hopefully we can try an replicate that success this time around.

The Dunlop Series and the main series are very different, but it still gives me a bit of confidence heading to a track where I’ve had success in the past. I drove Chaz Mostert’s car in the co-driver session at QR last year as well, and I was driving the car fairly similarly to how he was driving it – which is good because he dominated the round.

In saying that, the main series is a big step. Every track I’ve gone to this year the series is getting tighter and tighter. It all comes back to the importance of qualifying well – and that’s one area I need to tune up a little bit. Hopefully I can start working on that this weekend and find a few little gains.

Enemy Territory

I don’t think there’s any huge advantage for the Queensland-based teams this weekend. In fact, QR being their home track probably puts the pressure on them a bit more.

We often see the Queensland teams comes to Winton and be competitive, and if you look at last year Prodrive Racing Australia dominated at Queensland Raceway.

So the pressure is on the locals to get the job done.

Winning is never boring

Queensland Raceway cops a bit of a bad wrap for its layout – and to be honest, it is a little bit boring.

But I enjoy any circuit that I go well at. If the car is doing what you want it to and you’re up the front, then you can fall in love with any circuit.

So last year I really enjoyed QR, because the car was spot on. I hope I enjoy just as much this time around…

The benefit of it being so flat and compact is that the spectators can see the whole track. It’s not a classic for the drivers, but it’s great for fans from that perspective.