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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

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#DriverCarTime
1 17 new_zealand Scott McLaughlin  Ford Falcon FG-X  
2 88 australia Jamie Whincup  Holden Commodore VF 1.6242
3 12 new_zealand Fabian Coulthard  Ford Falcon FG-X 2.4242
4 9 australia David Reynolds  Holden Commodore VF 10.3785
5 19 australia Will Davison  Holden Commodore VF 17.2544
6 888 australia Craig Lowndes  Holden Commodore VF 18.9771
7 33 australia Garth Tander  Holden Commodore VF 20.4237
8 97 new_zealand Shane van Gisbergen  Holden Commodore VF 20.7514
9 5 australia Mark Winterbottom  Ford Falcon FG-X 23.1229
10 8 australia Nick Percat  Holden Commodore VF 42.3733
11 18 australia Lee Holdsworth  Holden Commodore VF 42.6421
12 7 australia Todd Kelly  Nissan Altima 43.1558
13 34 australia James Moffat  Holden Commodore VF 44.0179
14 23 australia Michael Caruso  Nissan Altima 44.3306
15 2 australia Scott Pye  Holden Commodore VF 44.8201
16 15 australia Rick Kelly  Nissan Altima 45.0866
17 31 australia James Golding  Holden Commodore VF 45.4533
18 21 australia Tim Blanchard  Holden Commodore VF 45.8307
19 26 Shae Davies  Nissan Altima 46.8577
20 4 australia Macauley Jones  Holden Commodore VF 54.8057
21 99 australia Dale Wood  Holden Commodore VF 1'01.5417
22 6 australia Cameron Waters  Ford Falcon FG-X 1'01.7381
23 78 switzerland Simona de Silvestro  Nissan Altima 1'04.2380
24 3 australia Taz Douglas  Holden Commodore VF 1'04.7686
25 62 australia Alex Rullo  Holden Commodore VF 1'09.0464
26 56 australia Jason Bright  Ford Falcon FG-X 1'16.1457
27 14 australia Tim Slade  Holden Commodore VF 1'16.4792
  22 australia James Courtney  Holden Commodore VF 41.5404
  55 australia Chaz Mostert  Ford Falcon FG-X  

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