McLaughlin holds
Van Gisbergen chases hard until final seconds
SCOTT McLaughlin took another step towards claiming the crown he should have won last year when he survived a Shane van Gisbergen onslaught to win the first instalment of the Darwin Triple Crown.
In a thrilling fight that was not decided until the bitter end, the DJR/Penske star flew in his Ford to hold of van Gisbergen and claim a championship lead extending triumph in the Top End.
On an all-out mission to win the championship after a final race mistake cost him the title last year, McLaughlin racked up his sixth win of the year in a Hidden Valley heart-stopper.
“I am glad I do not wear a heart-rate monitor,’’ McLaughlin said.
“I would have blew the bloody thing apart. We all know Shane is a hard charger. I am glad I was able to hold him off.’’
Starting the race from position two after Dave Reynolds pounced in qualifying to deny him his latest pole, McLaughlin sustained heavy fire from a flying van Gisbergen after a shortstop strategy fail.
“We took a punt there (by pitting early),’’ McLaughlin said. “Obviously the (long) strategy was probably a bit faster but they (DJR/Team Penske) put a lot of belief in me to bring it home and thankfully I did.
“I wanted that win bad after coming back from a break.’’
Red Bull Holden Racing star van Gisbergen roared his way through the field to stalk McLaughlin to the finish line after starting in fifth.
“It was a really cool race,’’ van Gisbergen said.
“We just need to sort out our qualifying. We really need to start up the front but congratulations to Scott for an awesome race.”
Reynolds gave himself a race-winning shot when he pounced to snatch pole position from McLaughlin.
Reynolds clocked 1.05.84 to score his first qualifying win for Erebus Motorsport.
“It means a lot to me,’’ Reynolds said.
“I was actually crying a little bit in the car after that, because we haven’t had a pole position with this team yet. It’s been unbelievable.”
Out to re-establish himself as a championship contender following two tough rounds, Reynolds roared his way off the line to beat McLaughlin into turn one.
But he almost squandered his screaming start when he suffered a lockup coming into the final turn.
Reynolds recovered to control the race and opted to go long after Ricky Kelly and Jamie Whincup split the field by pitting after just five laps.
McLaughlin responded by making his stop on the following lap.
But van Gisbergen became a surprise contender when he made his stop on lap 20 to undercut Reynolds and become the front running man on fresh tyres.
And the Red Bull man had a rocket.
Van Gisbergen roared past Whincup and Kelly on lap 22 to put himself on McLaughlin’s tail and give himself a winning shot.
“I wanted that win bad after coming back from a break” SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN