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Albert Park Supercars: McLaughlin continues Mustang dominance

Scott McLaughlin continued the Ford Mustang's perfect start to its Supercars career, winning the fourth and final race at Albert Park.

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Scott McLaughlin, DJR Team Penske Ford

Edge Photographics

McLaughlin got the jump from the dirty side of the grid, charging up the inside of polesitter Chaz Mostert to grab the lead.

Mostert couldn't even hold on to second, being held out wide at Turn 1 by McLaughlin allowing Jamie Whincup to sneak through on the way to Turn 3.

It was only a brief stint in second for the seven-time champ, though, Mostert making a clean-cut pass on the Red Bull Holden into Turn 3 on the third lap.

By then McLaughlin had already skipped away, however the race was naturalised a few corners later when Macauley Jones ended up in the wall on the run to Turn 14 after tangling with Simona de Silvestro and Garry Jacobson, resulting in a Safety Car.

The race was restarted on Lap 7, the two leading Mustangs quickly bolting at the front.

While Mostert was able to hold on to the back of McLaughlin, he was unable to put any meaningful pressure on the leader, McLaughlin ending up a winner by 0.8s.

"[It feels] very good," said McLaughlin.

"A great job by everyone. I feel like I'm nailing those starts, it's making me feel really good.

"It's just a great start to our year."

Whincup, who had come under some pressure from Cam Waters right before the Safety Car, managed to pull away after the restart and finish third, Waters and Will Davison coming home fourth and fifth.

Mark Winterbottom was the second-best Holden in sixth, followed by Tim Slade, David Reynolds, Lee Holdsworth and Nick Percat.

Shane van Gisbergen's miserable weekend ended on a fitting note, the Kiwi buried down in 22nd.

He had run as high as fifth in the early stages of the race, before tangling with Fabian Coulthard on the second lap.

The drama started through Turns 11 and 12, the Red Bull Holden driver short-cutting the second part of the complex before locking his right-front into Turn 13.

That helped pitch him back into Coulthard's door, the Penske Mustang sent down the escape road and left in 21st, as van Gisbergen was shuffled back to 14th.

He was then hit with a 15s time penalty, which left him outside the Top 20 by the end of the race.

Coulthard recovered to finish 15th.

McLaughlin will take a 31-point lead over Whincup into the third round of the season in Tasmania, while van Gisbergen, who was second coming into Albert Park, is now 11th in the standings, 175 adrift.

Race results:

Cla # Driver Car Gap
1 17 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin  Ford Mustang GT  
2 55 Australia Chaz Mostert  Ford Mustang GT 0.8042
3 88 Australia Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore ZB 3.8332
4 6 Australia Cameron Waters  Ford Mustang GT 5.0635
5 23 Australia Will Davison  Ford Mustang GT 5.4461
6 18 Australia Mark Winterbottom  Holden Commodore ZB 8.2984
7 14 Australia Tim Slade  Holden Commodore ZB 9.0070
8 9 Australia David Reynolds  Holden Commodore ZB 10.8909
9 5 Australia Lee Holdsworth  Ford Mustang GT 11.0001
10 8 Australia Nick Percat  Holden Commodore ZB 11.6150
11 2 Australia Scott Pye  Holden Commodore ZB 12.2233
12 99 Australia Anton De Pasquale  Holden Commodore ZB 13.1487
13 97 New Zealand Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore ZB 13.7153
14 35 Australia Todd Hazelwood  Holden Commodore ZB 16.1977
15 7 New Zealand Andre Heimgartner  Nissan Altima L33 20.3848
16 12 New Zealand Fabian Coulthard  Ford Mustang GT 20.5663
17 22 Australia James Courtney  Holden Commodore ZB 21.1900
18 78 Switzerland Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima L33 21.7593
19 3 Garry Jacobson  Nissan Altima L33 21.8876
20 34 Australia James Golding  Holden Commodore ZB 22.6042
21 15 Australia Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima L33 23.4786
22 33 New Zealand Richie Stanaway  Holden Commodore ZB 25.4976
23 19 Australia Jack Le Brocq  Holden Commodore ZB 1'28.1702
24 21 Australia Macauley Jones  Holden Commodore ZB  

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