McLaughlin extends lead
For the second round running, New Zealander Scott McLaughlin has completed a double Supercars win with victory at Barbagallo Raceway in Western Australia yesterday.
He had to work hard for it as drivers battled with tyre life and a race mixed with different strategies. After a poor qualifying performance, McLaughlin started 19th and worked his way through the field to take his fourth successive race win.
His championship lead is now 158 points ahead of fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen.
“I’m stoked. I couldn’t believe it,” McLaughlin said. “These guys just gave me an unbelievable car and the strategy was on point. I am jumping up and down — that was awesome.
“We made it difficult but we brought it back. What does Daniel Ricciardo say? ‘Holy testicle Tuesday’. I joked to DJ before we went out and said I reckon we could win this thing. Deep down, I thought maybe, but I didn’t really think I’d bloody well do it.”
David Reynolds took second place in the Erebus Holden, while veteran Craig Lowndes came home third.
Van Gisbergen made a poor start from pole and then got hurt badly with an early safety car where he had to stack behind Red Bull Holden Racing teammate Jamie Whincup and dropped down the order.
But he gambled on a four-stop strategy that saw him have fresher tyres in the closing stages of the race and, as he did on Saturday, he recovered well to finish fifth and keep hold of second place in the standings.
Fellow Kiwi Andre Heimgartner started fourth after a superb qualifying performance and backed it up with a solid drive for eighth. Fabian Coulthard struggled again and ended up 16th, while Richie Stanaway was 19th. The series moves to Winton in rural Victoria in a fortnight.