McLaughlin hoping parity ‘whingeing’ is all over
FORD ace Scott McLaughlin is bracing for a greater threat from his Holden rivals at Bathurst this weekend but hopes he has heard the last of their “whingeing” over parity.
McLaughlin had dominated in his Mustang this year, winning a record-breaking 17 races out of a possible 24, which led to enforced changes to the car’s centre of gravity and aerodynamic package earlier this year.
Mustang’s rival Commodores were also granted changes to their aerodynamic package, most recently ahead of the last round in Auckland and showed clear improvement.
McLaughlin, who is aiming for his maiden Bathurst crown at Mount Panorama, said the Holdens were stronger now – but took a swipe at their attacks on the Mustang this year.
“For sure they are better, absolutely, there is not as much whingeing any more, so that’s certainly going to help everyone’s ears,” McLaughlin said.
“Hopefully we can just get on with racing and stop talking about the ‘P’ word because honestly parity has been a big subject this year and it is something that frankly is quite annoying for all involved, not just the Fords but the Holdens as well.
“For Supercars as a whole, I just hope it is a great race and that word doesn’t come up and the people at the end are the absolute deserving winners.”
McLaughlin takes a commanding 598-point lead over his Red Bull Holden Racing Team rival Shane van Gisbergen into Bathurst.
While the significant buffer will allow McLaughlin to take an “aggressive” strategy into the race, he said he could not afford to be complacent.
“The confidence is there … we know that we’ve got a good car and we’re going to be somewhere in the mix, but you need more than a good car, you need a bit of everything,” McLaughlin said. Despite his dominance of the 2019 championship so far, the defending Supercars champion said he was not feeling the pressure.
“It’s probably less pressure in some ways, Bathurst is a tough race to win and if you can focus on little things it can help make it happen,” McLaughlin said.
“Last year we were always focused on the No. 97 car (van Gisbergen) and trying to stay in front of that because of the championship fight. So this year it doesn’t really matter.
“If we can we be thereabouts at the last stint on Sunday afternoon, buy a ticket to the last stint and have a crack, that’s our main goal.”