Red-hot McLaughlin driver to beat
ANOTHER assault on the Mount Panorama record books may have fallen short but Supercars series leader Scott McLaughlin is still the man to beat after nabbing provisional pole for tomorrow’s Bathurst 1000.
McLaughlin sent an ominous warning when he clocked the faster lap in a Supercar at Mount Panorama — a scorching two minutes, 04.14 seconds — in yesterday’s final practice before qualifying.
He obliterated Holden great Jamie Whincup’s 2015 mark by whopping 0.76 of a second.
And McLaughlin vowed to do it again in qualifying.
In the end McLaughlin fell an agonising 0.08 of a second short (2:04.22) of his mark but still emerged as the driver to stop.
McLaughlin, 24, has a maiden Bathurst title in his sights after topping qualifying ahead of Holden’s David Reynolds (2:04.47) and Ford star Chaz Mostert (2:04.53).
The front of the grid for tomorrow’s 161-lap classic will be determined by today’s top-10 shootout.
In contrast, McLaughlin’s main series threat Whincup had a day he would rather forget. The four-time Bathurst champion not only watched McLaughlin wipe his milestone from the record books, Whincup also missed out on the top-10 shootout. In a blow to his chances of reeling in McLaughlin in the series, Whincup — just 84 points shy of the flying Kiwi — will start from 11th on tomorrow’s grid.
“Seeing Jamie where he was I guess it is surprising — he is usually pretty quick around here,” McLaughlin said.
But McLaughlin seemed most surprised by his practice effort.
“I am pretty blown away to be honest,” McLaughlin said. “That last lap I feel like we could have been a little bit better. The first two sets of tyres I was too twitchy, and then put the last set on and it was a bit better but I made a mistake on the second last corner. “But this is not a bad feeling.” McLaughlin wasn’t too disappointed missing out on another record in qualifying.
“Practice was in better conditions. It was a little quicker so it was good to go close to that pace again in qualifying,” he said. “And the shootout is one of the best sessions of the year — we are going to have a go.”
Reynolds registered a last-gasp time just 0.24 of a second shy of McLaughlin moments before Holden’s James Moffat hit the wall at The Dipper, ensuring the 40-minute qualifying session ended under a red flag.
Whincup won’t be the only big name missing from the top-10 shootout today. Six-time champion Craig Lowndes will start back on the grid at 19th. Defending Bathurst champion Will Davison is 16th.