Seventeen year old Cameron Waters will make history this weekend when he becomes the youngest driver to ever compete at the Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.
A learner driver with ‘L’ plates on the road, he has won a seat to partner television personality Grant Denyer in this weekend’s prestigious Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercar race in the number 77 Shannons Mars Commodore.
Cameron Waters will be eight days younger than the previous Bathurst youngest V8 driver Paul Dumbrell when he started in the 1999 race. Waters is no amateur, competing in go-karting since the age of six. Last year he was crowned the Rookie of the Year in the 2010 Australian Formula Ford Championship and is currently on top of the 2011 championship table.
Waters from Mildura beat British driver Andrew Jordan, 22, to the drive. Waters has only been to Bathurst as a spectator, was picked by Todd and Rick Kelly, owners of Kelly Racing for the dream drive from the Channel 7mate television program Shannons Supercar Showdown. The program featured ten drivers competing for an opportunity to drive at Bathurst.
Provided Waters can meet the minimum qualifying cut-off time by the final practice (+107 per cent of the fastest time) at Mount Panorama, he will be declared a starter in the Great Race tomorrow. After all, Rick Kelly himself (Kelly Racing) has the reputation of being Bathurst’s youngest ever winner at the age of 20.