Hat-trick for McLaughlin at Darwin

Three wins from three starts has increased Scott McLaughlin’s lead in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship after Races 16,17 & 18 in Darwin.

“We’ve made an absolute jet out of this car; we’ve been working on it all week,” commented McLaughlin. “Having back-to-back rounds has been good. Being able to come back to the track and go on a track walk with Ludo (McLaughlin’s engineer) was a good opportunity for him to really understand what I wanted from the car. And today, that is exactly what he gave me.”

McLaughlin leads the championship from Jamie Whincup by 177 points with Shane van Gisbergen a further 168 points back.

Having won Saturday’s opening race, McLaughlin led Race 17 on Sunday from start to finish claiming his 50th Supercars race win. Second home was van Gisbergen followed by Scott Pye.

“Darwin treated us a little better today,” said van Gisbergen. “We had an engine change overnight and a big re-think of our race setup and the car overall was pretty good. I really have to thank the crew, they put in a big effort changing the motor last night and Shippy (Grant McPherson, #97 race engineer) for his efforts.

“We managed to get a pole this morning which was awesome, my first for a while. We just had to go back to basics and the car was awesome right from the start which helped, and I felt much more comfortable compared to yesterday.

“The two races were ok for me, managing a second and a fifth. We had a big battle in the last race with Frosty (Mark Winterbottom) which was cool, but I didn’t quite get on the right side of it. We’ll pack up, get out of this heat and look forward to Townsville.”

In race 18 McLaughlin again took control from the start line with Nick Percat coming home second ahead of Scott Pye.

“I have worked hard on my starts – I’ve got a really nice procedure and I feel for the bite point now,” said McLaughlin. “When I first started I was pretty average and stalled it a lot, but I’ve worked on it and it’s a confidence thing. That last start was the best start of the weekend for me.”

The championship continues next weekend with the first of two consecutive events in Townsville.

Drivers’ championship Points Table

PosDriverPts
1Scott McLaughlin1324
2Jamie Whincup1147
3Shane van Gisbergen979
4Chaz Mostert972
5Nick Percat915
6Cameron Waters893
7Mark Winterbottom890
8David Reynolds872
9Fabian Coulthard862
10Lee Holdsworth845
11Anton De Pasquale759
12Andre Heimgartner750
13James Courtney714
14Scott Pye704
15Jack Le Brocq652
16Rick Kelly648
17Todd Hazelwood643
18Bryce Fullwood564
19Jack Smith476
20Macauley Jones466
21Garry Jacobson449
22Chris Pither408
23Alex Davison334
24Zane Goddard288
25Will Davison231
26Jake Kostecki142

Race 17 Results

Class.DriverGap
1 Scott McLaughlin 
2 Shane van Gisbergen9.687
3 Scott Pye9.932
4 Fabian Coulthard15.279
5 Cameron Waters21.390
6 Jamie Whincup22.449
7 James Courtney27.983
8 Lee Holdsworth29.425
9 Mark Winterbottom30.730
10 Anton De Pasquale31.168
11 Andre Heimgartner32.035
12 Rick Kelly34.882
13 Nick Percat37.312
14 Jack Le Brocq37.736
15 Todd Hazelwood39.918
16 David Reynolds40.283
17 Bryce Fullwood40.983
18 Chaz Mostert41.697
19 Jack Smith46.627
20 Chris Pither48.819
21 Zane Goddard49.717
22 Alex Davison54.765
23 Macauley Jones59.004
24 Garry Jacobson1’13.494

Race 18 Results

Class.DriverGap
1 Scott McLaughlin 
2 Nick Percat13.835
3 Scott Pye14.817
4 Mark Winterbottom16.423
5 Shane van Gisbergen18.367
6 Chaz Mostert19.622
7 Jamie Whincup19.966
8 Andre Heimgartner20.299
9 Anton De Pasquale20.847
10 David Reynolds24.888
11 Fabian Coulthard27.703
12 Lee Holdsworth28.070
13 Jack Le Brocq28.459
14 James Courtney30.013
15 Todd Hazelwood33.845
16 Garry Jacobson34.552
17 Bryce Fullwood36.054
18 Macauley Jones39.415
19 Chris Pither43.344
20 Alex Davison44.253
21 Zane Goddard45.163
22 Rick Kelly52.838
23 Jack Smith54.164
  Cameron Waters 

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