World of Sport: Australian Supercars; IMSA; Porsche Supercup; ELMS; Formula Renault Eurocup; NASCAR Cup
AUSTRALIAN SUPERCARS QUEENSLAND RACEWAY (AUS) JULY 21-22 ROUND 9/16
Supercars title contenders Scott Mclaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen took a win each at Queensland Raceway, leaving the title battle delicately poised.
While Mclaughlin was the class of the field in qualifying on both days, taking his ninth and 10th poles of the season, he could only parlay that into victory on the Saturday. He did so comfortably though, with a measured performance to win the 75-mile single-stop race in his DJR Penske Ford.
Mclaughlin was only twice under any sort of pressure. He had to hold off team-mate Fabian Coulthard on the first lap after a slightly sluggish start, and then he briefly came under fire from the Tickford Ford of Chaz Mostert, who was attempting an undercut.
Each time he was up to the challenge, eventually coming home more than four seconds clear of the field. “That was awesome,” Mclaughlin said. “There was crazy stuff going on [during the first lap], and my tyres took ages to come up to temperature. Once they did, I just checked out.”
Van Gisbergen minimised the points loss by finishing second for the Triple Eight-run Red Bull Holden team, setting up his race with the most impressive first lap of the 2018 season so far. It started with an incredible launch from eighth on the grid that helped him jump the third row before Turn 1. Then he disposed of David Reynolds and Rick Kelly at Turns 2 and 3 to slot into third.
Van Gisbergen had a bit of work to do in the second stint after being jumped by early stoppers Mostert and Craig Lowndes, but better tyre condition meant he could easily pass both within 10 laps of his own stop to grab second.
Lowndes finished third to take what will be his final podium at the Ipswich track, given his imminent retirement. Jamie Whincup charged to fourth in the closing laps after opting for a long first stint.
In Sunday’s 250-mile race, van Gisbergen equalled Mclaughlin’s weekend points score with a victory of his own. Just as it had in the opening race, the start proved critical.
From the outside of the front row he jumped polesitter Mclaughlin at the start, although taking on more fuel during the first stop meant he trailed his fellow New Zealander for the second stint.
But by making a shorter second stop, van Gisbergen was able to come out in front for the final stint to hold off a challenge from Mclaughlin and claim victory. “It’s awesome. I had a good battle with Scotty, he got up to me at the end, but what a day,” van Gisbergen said.
Mostert claimed his first podium since October, while it was only Tickford’s second of the year. Since Mostert had raced to sixth place on Saturday, the Sunday result capped off a promising weekend for the struggling four-car Ford squad, although Mostert did come under some serious pressure from Whincup (Triple Eight/red Bull Holden) late in the race.
It ultimately came down to a drag race to the line. Although Mostert’s tyres were in much worse condition, he was able to do enough to hang on to third place.
“It’s absolutely fantastic, third feels like a win for me today,” he said. “It’s just good to be able to see the leaders, be able to race them and pit a little bit earlier, try and bring some more people in. “It’s cool when you’re able to have a race like that, instead of just evening out your stints and just trying to survive.”
With a win apiece for the contenders, the gap is still 131 points in Mclaughlin’s favour.