Two Kiwi drivers, one title and a ‘fake rivalry’
There are two big questions going into the final round of the Supercars season in Newcastle, Australia, this weekend.
One is whether it will be Scott Mclaughlin or Shane van Gisbergen who wins the title, the other is if there’s a feud between the two Kiwi drivers.
The latter was all sparked by an incident after the Saturday race in Pukekohe a couple of weeks ago when van Gisbergen parked his car so close to Mclaughlin’s before the podium ceremony, that Mclaughlin couldn’t get out.
Van Gisbergen tried to play down the rivalry this week, saying he respects Mclaughlin.
‘‘It’s s..t, but it makes the story so much bigger for Newcastle. Everyone has made a fake rivalry,’’ van Gisbergen told Supercars.com.
But there is clearly something going on between them and Mclaughlin didn’t appreciate what van Gisbergen did in Pukekohe.
It seemed to change Mclaughlin’s persona. He wasn’t going to take being shown up like that and he came out the next day and picked up a superb win.
‘‘People can say whatever they want, but I’m definitely not a sore loser,’’ Mclaughlin told Stuff.
‘‘But I hate a sore winner and I felt they didn’t celebrate the way that we probably would.
‘‘If I did that to Shane or anyone else, whether it was a mistake or not, the other person would be pissed off.
‘‘After that, I just wanted to come back stronger, just go bang and that’s what I felt like doing.
‘‘He gave me an upper cut on Saturday and I gave him one back on Sunday. It’s good for the show and at the end of the day this is the entertainment business and it probably provided that for the fans.’’
Unlike rugby, tennis or league, there’s not supposed to be a grand final in Supercars. But this year there is.
Mclaughlin and van Gisbergen will be duelling in Newcastle to decide who’ll be this year’s champion, with Mclaughlin holding a slender 14-point lead in the championship.
While there will be 24 other cars on the circuit and the sentimentality of it being Craig Lowndes’ last race as a full-time driver, really, it’s all about the two Kiwis.
‘‘It is kind of like grand final week and in some ways I’m trying to enjoy it like that, soak it all up,’’ Mclaughlin said.
‘‘Obviously, it’s just another big race but there is a lot riding on it and it does have that grand final feel to it.’’
It’s a case of deja vu all over again for Mclaughlin, who 12 months ago went to Newcastle in a close battle with Jamie Whincup for the title and it looked as if he’d done enough by winning the Saturday race. But a capitulation on Sunday, where he was given three penalties, handed Whincup his seventh title.
Lessons have been learnt from that by Mclaughlin and DJR Team Penske, who he drives for. That’s not just how they go about the race, but also the buildup where Mclaughlin is opting for a low-key approach this time.
Part of this includes doing far fewer media interviews this week, although he was happy to talk to Stuff.
‘‘When I head to the race track, I’m fully focused on that and understanding that we’ve got to do our normal stuff,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of media come out of the woodwork for this sort of stuff, so you’re not just talking to your traditional people and we’re trying to control that a bit better, which we probably didn’t do last year.
‘‘I understand what needs to be done, I know what the job is and it’s there for me to do.’’