Super showdown for Kiwis in Newcastle
KIWI PAIR VIE FOR SUPERCARS TITLE
So it’s come down to this.
Going into the final round of the Supercars season Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen are separated by just 14 points, with 300 up for grabs.
It’s the narrowest margin there has ever been between two drivers battling it out for the title going into the last round of the season.
For one, it’s going to be one of the greatest moments of their career and for the other it’ll be a crushing blow, where a year’s hard counted for nothing.
And if that happens to be McLaughlin, it’ll be the second season in a row where he’s suffered a devastating defeat on the last day.
But as much as it’s going to be an epic battle over the weekend, it’s also worth recognising that this is another high point for New Zealand motorsport.
They’re both drivers who’ve done the hard yards racing in categories in New Zealand before shifting to the other side of the Tasman to test themselves at a higher level.
Greg Murphy, the four-time Bathurst winner and still one of New Zealand’s most recognisable drivers, says it’s not a coincidence to him that these two are dominating Australia’s premier motor racing category.
‘‘They are two of the best Supercars drivers ever to walk the planet and they’re in the two best teams in Australia,’’ Murphy said.
‘‘They are equally as good as anyone who’s ever driven one of these cars before.
‘‘Not just these cars, Shane has shown he can drive anything at warp speed and be as quick as anyone else in the world and Scott’s the same.’’
Murphy gets to see van Gisbergen and McLaughlin at close hand during the season, as part of the excellent Supercars commentary team.
He’s witnessed the ups and downs of McLaughlin and van Gisbergen over the year and says he can’t see any weaknesses in either of them going into this deciding round.
Murphy can’t pick who’s going to come out on top, but he does feel a factor could be McLaughlin and van Gisbergen’s team-mates.
McLaughlin will have fellow Kiwi Fabian Coulthard in his corner, while driving tactically for van Gisbergen will be Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
‘‘They’ve got three cars working against one,’’ Murphy said.
‘‘Fabian is still not able to run at the pace Scott can and he’s still not where he needs to be for whatever reason.
‘‘He hasn’t been able to play a part as much as Scott needs him to.
‘‘We know Fabian is willing to do whatever he needs to do,’’ Murphy added.
‘‘But the thing is where Triple Eight have a bit more strength is that Lowndes and Whincup are performing better than what Fabian is.
‘‘So they’ve potentially got the strength in numbers, to be able to cause some grief.
‘‘But Scott is the qualifying guru and if he can qualify at the front, run at the front and have the speed in the car, he won’t need help.’’
It could play out that McLaughlin and van Gisbergen’s teams are so concerned with each other that it allows someone else to come through and win the races.
The driver perhaps most likely to spoil the party is Chaz Mostert, who’s been the only driver from the four-car Tickford Racing team to find pace lately, with two podiums from the last three races.
‘‘Massive things have changed behind the scenes,’’ Mostert told Stuff of his new found speed.
‘‘There’s a different mentality with what our guys have been doing on No 55, how we achieve things differently and the focus on how we achieve the speed in the car has completely changed.
‘‘It shows that you can teach old dogs new tricks and we’re trying to finish this year off by learning something and giving our mind a good freshen up for the break and then think about how we can keep moving forward.’’
‘‘They are two of the best Supercars drivers ever to walk the planet and they’re in the two best teams in Australia.’’
Four-time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy
There has been hardly anything separating the two New Zealand drivers all season, but something’s got to give in the final round in Newcastle. We assess the strengths and weaknesses of Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen.
Car
It’s been a battle all season between the Fords driven by DJR Team Penske and the Holdens of Triple Eight Race Engineering.
At the start of the year, McLaughlin had the quicker car, but by the mid stage of the season it was van Gisbergen and his teammates Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes who had more pace.
However, with a win each at the last round in Pukekohe, it looks like there will be nothing separating the cars around the streets of Newcastle this weekend.
Winner: Tie
Team-mate support
Van Gisbergen will have Whincup and Lowndes supporting him, while McLaughlin has just Fabian Coulthard in his corner.
Team tactics came into play in the last round in Pukekohe two weeks ago, when Whincup slowed down on the last lap to allow van Gisbergen to overtake him and finish second, which meant he picked up more championship points.
Expect both teams to send their supporting drivers in for refuelling at a time
when they’ll come out just in front of either McLaughlin or van Gisbergen, to slow them down.
Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
Qualifying
If there’s one part of the weekend where McLaughlin should have a clear edge over van Gisbergen, it should be in qualifying.
McLaughlin is a master at it. Van
Gisbergen is OK in a one-lap blast, but it’s not where he’s at his best.
Newcastle is a street circuit so overtaking won’t be easy and because of this qualifying will be crucial.
Winner: Scott McLaughlin
Tactics
A tight one, but in Ludo Lacroix McLaughlin has got a motor racing genius
helping him.
Lacroix is a master of the undercut manoeuvre , sending McLaughlin in for fuel before his Triple Eight rivals and invariably it pays off with him ending up in front without having to overtake.
Winner: Scott McLaughlin
Overtaking
Van Gisbergen is without doubt the best at
overtaking in Supercars and he pulls off moves other drivers wouldn’t dare to do.
In the past his aggressive style has got him in hot water with officials and other drivers. But while he got a penalty for shunting into the back of McLaughlin in Pukekohe when trying to get past, van Gisbergen is generally more controlled with his overtaking these days.
Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
Experience
Van Gisbergen has been there, done that. Winning the title in the last round of the season two years ago in Sydney. McLaughlin is still carrying the scars of how he blew it last year in Newcastle when he had one hand on the trophy.
At the age of 29, van Gisbergen is also in the peak years as a motor racing driver, while the 25-year-old McLaughlin should still have his best years ahead of him.
Winner: Shane van Gisbergen
Crowd support
The driver with the bigger fanbase on both sides of the Tasman appears to be McLaughlin. Van Gisbergen admitted at Pukekohe he heard people boo him for the first time in New Zealand after Whincup let him past.
McLaughlin is set to take over from Lowndes as the face of Supercars.
Winner: Scott McLaughlin
OVERALL
It’s a tie! Now wouldn’t it be sensational if that happens this weekend?