NZ driver becomes the hunter

Scott McLaughlin is confident his bad weekend of results at the Bend was a one-off.

The New Zealand Supercars driver has lost his lead in the Supercars championship, overtaken by compatriot Shane van Gisbergen, who holds a 19-point lead with five rounds to go.

At the Bend, the new track in South Australia, McLaughlin had his worst weekend of the year, finishing sixth and 10th in the two races, while van Gisbergen won the first race and was second on Sunday.

Having lost his lead in the championship to Jamie Whincup in the final race of last year, there could be a feeling of ‘here we go again’ from the 25-year-old, but McLaughlin is still upbeat.

‘‘It was disappointing, there was something fundamentally wrong and we figured it out after the weekend unfortunately,’’ McLaughlin said.

‘‘It was too little too late. In some ways, to walk out there knowing what happened and what was wrong is a good feeling.

‘‘But it’s also what could have been, because if we had done a couple of little things we could have been there or thereabouts.

‘‘There are so many points on offer over the next few rounds and it would be nice to have a buffer, but now we’re going to have to be the hunter.’’

McLaughlin is back in New Zealand this week and was at Pukekohe Park Raceway to help promote the Auckland round of the series on November 2-4.

‘‘It’s cool coming here,’’ McLaughlin said from the Pukekohe pitlane yesterday.

‘‘For me, it’s where I learnt what Supercars is all about and I really like driving here.

‘‘But I did say in the car on the way here, that I wish I did a Hamilton race, just so I could have experienced that street race,’’ he added, referring to when the New Zealand round was held in the city from 2008 to 2012.