Photo: V8 Supercars

Scott McLaughlin breaks through for second career win

Scott McLaughlin edged out Jamie Whincup to win the second race of the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 today. In doing so, the popular rookie propelled a Garry Rogers Motorsport entry to the top step of the podium for only the second time this season.

The 20 year-old kiwi made a dream start to the race, jumping championship leader Jamie Whincup off the front row of the grid. McLaughlin then set about building a gap to the Red Bull Racing Australia Commodore of Whincup, and managed to maintain a comfortable buffer for the entirety of the 32 lap event. The Garry Rogers Motorsport pilot crossed the line half a second ahead of a resurgent Whincup for Triple Eight Race Engineering.

James Courtney continued the Holden Racing Team’s strong run of form in recent times, rounding out the podium a further 1.7 seconds off Whincup. Fresh off signing a new 3 year deal with the factory squad, Courtney never appeared to have race-winning speed; however he once again put in a consistent performance to maintain his qualifying position.

Fabian Coulthard steered his Brad Jones Racing prepared Commodore to 4th place at the chequered flag, a slight improvement upon his 5th fastest time in the prior 15 minute qualifying session. Coulthard’s BJR stable-mate, Jason Bright, rounded out the top 5 after narrowly edging out Chaz Mostert for Wilson Security Racing on the run to the chequered flag.

Mixed emotions will surely be present within the Ford Performance Racing garage. All four entries finished the race inside the top 10; however they occupied 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th, and appeared to deny each other a chance of contending at the pointy end of the field. Alex Davison put in a strong performance to guide his Jeld-Wen backed Falcon to 7th, while David Reynolds struggled to 8th after a flat spotted tyre severely hampered his pace in the second half of the event. Will Davison headed Mark Winterbottom in the battle of the Pepsi Max Crew FG Falcons for the final two places in the top 10.

A short safety car intervention was necessary to remove debris from the circuit on the 9th lap with Scott McLaughlin leading the race; however it did not prompt notable jostling for position upon the restart on lap 12.

Reminiscent of yesterday’s qualifying session, Jamie Whincup picked up his second consecutive pole position at the Ipswich-based circuit early this morning. The championship leader lapped the 3.12 kilometre circuit in a time of 1.09.07, three tenths of a second faster than his closest rival in GRM’s Scott McLaughlin. The surprise of qualifying was Chaz Mostert, who picked up the 4th fastest time in the 15 minute session. Tekno’s Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight’s Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander for HRT were all disappointing, managing just 12th, 13th and 15th respectively.

In what turned out to be a relatively clean race considering the damp conditions, Chaz Mostert, Shane van Gisbergen and Dean Fiore were the only runners to find the sand under heavy braking on the opening lap. The apparent lack of grip did not appear to trouble the 28 car field, with very few instances of cars leaving the tight Ipswich asphalt.

Lee Holdsworth’s dreadful run of luck continued as he was squeezed between Shane van Gisbergen and Scott Pye prior to the safety car intervention. The incident will come under post-race investigation from the stewards. It would be the Irwin Racing pilot’s 5th consecutive failure to finish a race, while his Erebus stable mates, Tim Slade and Maro Engel, finished 13th and 27th respectively.

Todd Kelly was once again involved in a heart-stopping tangle; this time with the Walkinshaw Racing prepared Commodore of Russell Ingall. Both drivers managed to keep their respective entries pointing in the right direction; however the lack of pace from the factory Nissans is cause for concern for Todd Kelly and the rest of the Nissan Motorsport personnel.

Jamie Whincup’s second placed finish further extends his championship ascendency over Red Bull Racing Australia team mate, Craig Lowndes. With Lowndes only managing 12th position at the chequered flag, Whincup’s buffer has blown out to 177 points and he has well and truly recovered from his issues in Townsville. Will Davison and Mark Winterbottom have also lost ground to Whincup following their squabbles at the back end of the top-10.

The final 100 kilometre leg of the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 will kick off from 4.20pm local time.