McLaughlin claims podium as pit crew works magic
A CANDID Scott McLaughlin has declared his driving “sucked” in yesterday’s second race at the Townsville 400 as he credited his team for helping him snare another podium finish.
The championship leader made a promising start at Reid Park to win his eighth pole award of the season on Saturday before finishing third to Red Bull Holden pair Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gis- bergen. But McLaughlin said he did himself no favours in yesterday’s Top 10 Shootout with a scrappy run for P7, posting a time which was half a second off pole sitter and eventual race winner van Gisbergen.
McLaughlin had slipped to 11th by the end of the opening lap of the race before fighting back to finish third thanks to an early pit decision which gave him the clean air to make up ground.
The Shell V- Power star said van Gisbergen and Whincup clearly had the best speed as they shared the race honours across the weekend, but he felt he had failed to maximise his own car.
“Really, to be honest, my driving today just sucked,” McLaughlin said.
“The team really pulled me through, gave me a great strategy, great tyre life, and I was able to just punch in clear air.
“When I’m having a bad day they’re always behind me, which is all I can ask.”
McLaughlin was more than a race clear heading into Townsville, but he now has just a 131- point buffer from van Gisbergen, with Whincup ( 403 points behind) also making up ground.
But McLaughlin expected their Holden rivals to improve on the hybrid street circuit at Reid Park and he said there was no reason to start stressing about the title race.
“I’m just enjoying the lead at the moment,” McLaughlin said.
We’ll see if we can extend it and if we lose a little bit we’ll just keep pressing on.
“We’ll absolutely look at what we can improve on ourselves, ( but) not necessarily against them ( Whincup and van Gisbergen).
“I think it’s more a case of figuring out what we learnt because our car was very different.
“We’ll try and figure that out and see if we can come back stronger at the next street circuit.”