Supercars champion McLaughlin ready to get back to day job

SUPERCARS champion Scott McLaughlin is adamant he still has the hunger to secure a rare three-peat of titles in 2020.

The Ford star’s off-season has included getting married in the United States before impressing in a series of opportunities to get behind the wheel of an IndyCar with Team Penske.

McLaughlin was third-fastest during a practice stint last week at the Circuit of the Americas and had his first taste of an American-style oval track in a private rookie test at Texas Motor Speedway.

The 26-year-old completed 150 laps on the 2.4km speedway, hitting almost 354km/h.

Despite the excitement surrounding his IndyCar ambitions, McLaughlin will return to business in Australia this week with the Supercars’ season-opening Adelaide 500.

The DJR Team Penske driver will get back into his Mustang at a pre-season test day today at the Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia.

If he can go on to defend his Supercars title in 2020, McLaughlin will be the fourth driver to claim three championships in a row.

Ian Geoghegan (1966-69), Mark Skaife (2000-02) and Jamie Whincup (2011-2014) are the only drivers to have achieved the feat.

“You want to go out there and do things people haven’t done before. I just want to win,” McLaughlin told RSN927’s Breakfast Club.

“I know it’s pretty cliched but that feeling of winning championships never gets old and we had a great year last year. We’ve got all the same equipment and same people and that’s one thing you need in motorsport is continuity and we’ve certainly got that in our team.”