HARD yards, playing the long game, and some international pearls of wisdom.

Those are the three factors which helped Tickford Racing and Cam Waters return to form in emphatic fashion at the Darwin Triple Crown.

Tickford had gone from leading the teams’ championship out of Albert Park to be in danger of dropping as low as sixth, and looked to be lacking the pace to be a serious shot at snapping its winless run.

That changed in a big way at Hidden Valley.

Waters, for the first time all season, qualified inside the top five on the Friday and converted that into victory. He then took pole position for both Saturday and Sunday and grabbed two more podiums to clinch the Triple Crown trophy.

All of a sudden, the Campbellfield organisation has surged past Walkinshaw TWG Racing back into third in the live pitlane order.

Pic: Supplied/Mark Horsburgh

“We set out at the start of the year to build to the finals,” said Tickford CEO Simon Brookhouse.

“We looked at a lot of what Walkinshaw did with Chaz (Mostert) last year and peaked at the right time.

“And we have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes. We have been a little bit off in a couple of the rounds, but we just continued to work really hard back at the workshop. The feedback from the drivers is obviously really important.

“We’ve brought in Raf (Rafal Lewandowski), a technical engineer as a new role; we think that has added some value around our analysis and our data.

“But all in all it has just been really hard work, and this is great; it’s a lift for the team but we still have got a lot more to do.”

Lewandowski, a Pole with a background in the World Endurance Championship, arrived just prior to the New Zealand doubleheader and has had an increasing influence the more he has settled in.

“He has probably just challenged us more on set-up and our thinking about the car,” Waters’ race engineer Sam Potter told V8 Sleuth of Lewandowski.

“I think he has helped just ask questions about what we’re trying to achieve, which makes us question and understand better what we’re trying to do and understand better how to achieve it.”

Now comes the chance for Waters to keep it rolling into Townsville, where he has three wins, five poles and 11 podiums from 28 prior starts.

“Every round we’re doing, we’re learning and I think Townsville traditionally is a place that is strong for us with our set-up philosophy,” said the two-time championship runner-up.

“We’ll marry that up with what we have learnt since then and hopefully go to Townsville and be just as strong.

“That’s what the key to it is going to be for us, is being able to be fast at all different tracks. It’s something we haven’t probably done good enough but hopefully we have turned the page.”

Waters’ teammate Thomas Randle is down to 14th in the points after being ruled out of the Sunday Darwin race on medical grounds.