McLaughlin applies blowtorch to his Supercars rivals
Water in the drivers’ drink bottles became hot enough to warrant a tea bag and biscuit.
Feet were burnt through the soles of boots due to the blistering heat of the pedals. Blurred vision, leg cramps. Chaos in pit lane. A delirious winner who sang Daryl Braithwaite’s
as he shook his fist at the chequered flag.
The Adelaide 500 was a whiteknuckled, sweat-soaked examination of physical and psychological endurance, delivering a perfect 300-point weekend for Scott McLaughlin, whose back-to-back victories in the opening round of the Supercars Championship provided the first touring car triumphs for a Ford Mustang since Allan Moffatt in 1972. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday. That was the manufacturers’ mantra in Moffatt’s era and, if it still rang true yesterday, Ford’s beastly automobiles were being snapped up at a furious rate.
McLaughlin won Saturday’s 250km, two-hour slog by a whopping 13 seconds from Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen. He sang
apparently a salute to his fourwheeled steed, before he dived headlong into the nearest ice bath. Fortydegree temperatures gave fourthplaced Will Davison, among others, a fear that he would stick his car into the fence before he reached the finish at 7.30pm.
After the race on Saturday, Whincup suggested an adjournment to the nearest pub for everyone to cool down.
No rest for the wicked or the knackered. At 11am on Sunday, they were back on the Adelaide street circuit for another round of qualifying. At 1.15pm, another top-10 shootout. At 3.50pm, another race. It was cooler than on Saturday but still in the mid-30s. Drivers cooled themselves by sitting in giant catering freezers.
The start exploded like the Red Hot Chili Peppers for their after-party set in front of a capacity crowd of 90,000 on Saturday night. McLaughlin and arch rival van Gisbergen rumbled through the opening turns. There was nothing in the first lap but, by the 20th, McLaughlin was nearly seven seconds to the good. To quote Braithwaite’s song, that was the way it was going to be until the end, little darling. McLaughlin first, Cam Waters second, van Gisbergen third.
“Really excited,” McLaughlin said. “Ford fans, all weekend, they’ve been all about the Mustang. We came here hoping for two top-fives. To leave with a 300-point weekend just blows me away.”
On winning without singing on this occasion, he replied: “I thought I’d shut up a little bit.”
Chaz Mostert and Rick Kelly had a bingle in pit lane, of all places, that caused chaos midway through the race. Mostert received a pit-lane penalty for an unsafe pit release after Supercars veteran Rick Kelly had driven into him.
A safety car 28 laps into the race had brought most of the field to a stop. Mostert released from his box but was forced to move out slowly to dodge tyres sitting in the DJR Team Penske box. Kelly came up behind and hit Mostert, sending him sideways. Mostert tried to reverse and get out of everyone’s way, without success.
“They released the car when we were up alongside them,” Kelly said. “I was really surprised, actually, with how far up we were, that they still did it. But that’s what you get. Sometimes you’re the bug, sometimes you’re the windscreen.”
Asked if he could have avoided the incident, Kelly blamed Mostert’s team. “They could have avoided it,” he said. “We were a long way out. We had to swerve around a couple of cars and they released him when they shouldn’t have.”
When they found themselves in pit lane again, Kelly was right in front of Mostert. He slowed to a snail’s pace to antagonise Mostert, who nudged him from behind.