After two years of second place, Cameron Waters is motivated to finally win the Bathurst 1000

After two years of finishing as runner-up in the Bathurst 1000 by agonisingly close margins - 0.86 seconds in 2020 then 3.74 seconds last year - Waters holds a special sort of determination for this year's Great Race.

Yes, like everyone else on the grid the Tickford Racing star wants to win.

However, he will be driven by the motivation to no longer be a Bathurst bridesmaid.

"Last two years coming second has been good, but to see the win so close in front of you makes it a bit harder," Waters admitted.

"You use that as motivation to go back there and take it up another notch.

"To be honest I'm a bit sick of being asked about coming second, the best way to stop being asked about it is to go win the thing, so that's what we'll try to do."

Though the last two years at Mount Panorama have brought with it the best Bathurst 1000 results of Waters' Great Race resume - there was also a pole position in 2020 - it has left him questioning what else he and his team could have done.

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Waters and those involved with the Monster Energy Racing entry have scrutinised all the data - every aspect of their 161 laps - in order to work out how to make the gains they need.

"A hundred percent you come out of weekend questioning what you could've done differently and where you could have tuned the car or driven it differently, all those aspects to the race you can improve," Waters said.

"We came out of 2020 with a few ideas, went into 2021 and second again. But I feel like we've learned quite a lot this year about our car and how we're setting it up and things like that."

One factor which will help Waters in his bid to win the 1000 is that for the first time in his career he has retained the same co-driver for consecutive seasons.

James Moffat will again share the seat of the #6 Mustang in what will be the 13^th Bathurst 1000 drive of his career and 232^nd Supercars race.

It's that sort of experience - like Waters he's a two-time Bathurst runner-up - as well as the familiarity that makes Moffat a big asset.

"It's cool to be teaming up with Moff again, he did a really good job last year for us and this year we're unchanged in the line up," Waters said.

"So we know how each of us operate, how we love to drive the car, you know he knows how I like it set up. It gives you a little bit of a head start over those who have fresh combos."

With 13 podium finishes, of which three were wins, and eight pole positions for the season thus far, Waters currently sits second in the championship.

Though the 28-year-old freely admits he wanted more wins to his credit, his performances thus far give him confidence he can claim the chequered flag at Mount Panorama.

"Bathurst is obviously biggest race of the year for us, we've had not a bad year so far, but yeah, probably would've liked to have won a few more races than we have," Waters said.

"Super excited to get up there, we've been pretty competitive the last couple of years.

"Going there this year, bit of redemption, want to go there and win and get the monkey off our back."

The Supercars field will hit the track for the first time at 11am Thursday for the opening practice session.

The Bathurst 1000 will commence at 11.15am on Sunday.

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