Winton Supercars: McLaughlin cruises to Saturday win
Scott McLaughlin took an untroubled victory at Winton, helped largely by a mechanical failure for chief rival Chaz Mostert.
Podium: race winner Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske Ford
Edge Photographics
The DJR Team Penske driver effectively led the entire race from pole position, taking the safe option and pitting on Lap 5 as the lead pack opted for early stops.
His job was then made significantly easier than it otherwise might have been when Mostert – who had shadowed him for the first 14 laps – was forced out of the race with a mechanical failure.
From there it was about managing the gap back to Jamie Whincup behind him, a faultless driver ultimately leading to a third win on the bounce for McLaughlin.
“I’ve got a fantastic car under me that drives itself,” said McLaughlin. “I don’t know what happened to Chaz, but it was going to be a good battle so bad luck to him.
Whincup came home second, having dropped into third at the start at the expense of teammate Shane van Gisbergen, and then inherited second when Mostert retired.
He didn’t have it all his own way, though, spending the entire race with mirrors full of Fabian Coulthard’s DJR Team Penske Ford.
In the end Whincup was able to do enough to hold of Coulthard to the tune of 0.8s.
“The car was good, we maximised today like we did in Perth,” said But we’re just not quick enough, we need to find some speed.
Will Davison, David Reynolds, and Craig Lowndes all used a longer first stint to make big gains.
Davison opted to make his stop on Lap 15, coming out behind Coulthard. He held on to what was effectively fourth spot right up until the penultimate lap when Reynolds – who had waited until Lap 22 to make his stop – charged past to grab fourth, and relegate Davison to fifth.
“I think we did awesome!” My car was so much faster then. I didn’t like racing after qualifying, but now I like it again. We had a real big think after qualifying and we changed the car significantly. It paid off.”
Lowndes, who qualified way down in 19th, went right through to Lap 25 before making his stop, popping out behind Reynolds, and going on to finish in what was a massive gain.
Tander, meanwhile, had to pass Shane van Gisbergen and Rick Kelly after his stop on his way to seventh.
Van Gisbergen finished back in eighth despite showing front-running car pace. The Kiwi made a shocker of a start, slipping from third on the grid back to sixth, and his Lap 8 pitstop for rear tyres made things even worse, a huge delay on the right wheel nut dumping him back behind Kelly and Davison.
He then spent some time bottled up behind Kelly, the direct result of that was being backed into Tander, and losing ground to Reynolds and Lowndes, who both jumped him with their later stops.
Mark Winterbottom finished ninth, while Nick Percat took a controversial 10th. The Brad Jones Racing driver had been in the mix at the front early, but slipped back through the pack as he seemed to struggle with rear grip.
As the race wore on Percat found himself in front of a huge battle pack led by James Courtney, who had recovered from a first-lap spin to be in contention for a Top 10 thanks to a 26-lap first stint.
The pair came to blows on the final lap at Turn 4, Courtney’s attempt too go down the inside seeing him spear across the front of Percat’s car and end up stuck in the gravel.
“JC was into the rear bar pretty aggressively,” said Percat. “Then [there was] a side-by-side exchange, and I’m getting run off the road left so as his car came across me it’s fired him over the front of the bonnet.
“It’s awkward how the track narrows up, and we kind of have to swing right, then left, then turn in.
“If we can salvage 10th after everything that went on, I’m pretty happy.”
Race 1 Results:
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG-X | |
2 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 1.6242 |
3 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG-X | 2.4242 |
4 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 10.3785 |
5 | 19 | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 17.2544 |
6 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 18.9771 |
7 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 20.4237 |
8 | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 20.7514 |
9 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG-X | 23.1229 |
10 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 42.3733 |
11 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 42.6421 |
12 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 43.1558 |
13 | 34 | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 44.0179 |
14 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 44.3306 |
15 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 44.8201 |
16 | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 45.0866 |
17 | 31 | James Golding | Holden Commodore VF | 45.4533 |
18 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 45.8307 |
19 | 26 | Shae Davies | Nissan Altima | 46.8577 |
20 | 4 | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 54.8057 |
21 | 99 | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 1'01.5417 |
22 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'01.7381 |
23 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 1'04.2380 |
24 | 3 | Taz Douglas | Holden Commodore VF | 1'04.7686 |
25 | 62 | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 1'09.0464 |
26 | 56 | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG-X | 1'16.1457 |
27 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 1'16.4792 |
22 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 41.5404 | |
55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG-X |
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