SCOTT’S HOT TO TROT
SCOTT McLaughlin’s road to redemption continued yesterday with the DJR Team Penske racer blitzing the field to claim victory in the opening race in Perth.
In the year’s most dominant performance, McLaughlin flogged the field by more than five seconds at Barbagallo Raceway to make it three race wins in a row.
Leading from start to finish in his Ford, the heartbreak of losing last year’s title in a nightmare Newcastle finale continued to fade with McLaughlin extending his championship lead to 119 points.
“That is three in a row now,” McLaughlin said.
“That was a good win and very nice for our championship. It was nice to know we had the tyre pace to gap them and I will take it because they don’t come along too often.”
McLaughlin set up the win by blasting a 54.63sec lap to steal pole position from Ford’s Cameron Waters.
Forced to put on fresh tyres and go out for a second run after Waters surprised the big guns by going quickest, McLaughlin made it three qualifying wins in a row by knocking off the fellow Ford with his second attempt.
Fabian Coulthard gave DJR Team Penske a double chance by qualifying in third.
McLaughlin was hard on himself after having to use a second set of tyres.
“I absolutely made a meal of it,” he said.
“I didn’t give myself a big enough kick up the backside after practice. I need to go back and look at it.
“I’m a bit annoyed with myself.
“I feel like I could have done that one the first set, but it’s good for the team. We’re third and first.”
There were no start-line mistakes for McLaughlin and he powered away after turn one.
“I was a bit worried for a while,” he said. “When I came out of the pit stop there were cars everywhere. They were battling away and it got a bit hairy. We got a good start and I trucked on.
“At the start we wanted to gap them a little bit and we found we had a very good car.
“They attacked and tried to undercut us but we stayed out and I knew I would get there in the end.”
Mark Winterbottom followed McLaughlin home to make it a Ford one-two and break a podium drought for Tickford Racing.
“That is the first podium for the team this year,” Winterbottom said.
“And it is a nice feeling to get it. We had a really good car then and it is great considering where we have been.
“I wasn’t driving any different today and it is down to the hard work the team has done. I really appreciate all the effort and to get back on the podium is fantastic.”
Reigning champion Jamie Whincup was forced to fight from the back after failing to qualify in the top 10 in a rare miss for Red Bull.
He worked his way back into the battle, with a clever early stop catapulting him to third.
But Whincup was slapped down by a penalty for turning around Chaz Mostert and finished 11th.
Fellow Red Bull Holden Racing driver Shane van Gisbergen fought his way to third after his own failure in qualifying.
“We missed it in qualifying,” van Gisbergen said.
“But that is OK. It was awesome to come through in the end.”