Final corner drama as Scott McLaughlin wins with Garth Tander out of fuel

Scott McLaughlin won his second race of the weekend at Phillip Island in dramatic circumstances as race leader Garth Tander ran out of fuel in the very last corner.

”I feel for Garth, but that was an awesome race for me. This is amazing,” said a happy McLaughlin, who jumps from eighth to fifth in the championship.

Volvo Polestar Racing driver McLaughlin started from second place on the grid but got the jump on pole sitter and newly crowned champion Jamie Whincup in the run to the first corner.

Holden Racing Team driver Tander made a cracking start from fourth on the grid to snatch second place from Whincup a couple of corners later.

McLaughlin then pulled out a lead of a couple of seconds, only to lose one place to Tander after the first pitstop.

There was drama in the first and only safety car session when David Wall went off track in the final corner due to a power steering issue. All cars pitted, seeing frantic action in the narrow Phillip Island pit lane.

Tander got back out in the lead, but with McLaughlin reeling him in over the last ten laps. The Volvo driver got close to drafting past on the main straight with two laps left, but made a small mistake a couple of corners later, giving Tander a breather.

As the victory looked set for Tander, the ominous radio message from a couple of laps earlier to Tander about it getting close on fuel came true. Tander slowed down on the exit of the final corner on the very last lap, seeing McLaughlin driving straight past to take victory by just 0.4521 seconds.

”That is the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. We didn’t think this would be a strong track for us, but we came up a 100 meters short only,” said Tander.

Mark Winterbottom claimed the final podium spot for Ford Performance Racing, making it three manufacturers in the top three, after passing Whincup in the final pitstop.

Whincup had to settle for fourth position ahead of Tekno Autosports driver Shane Van Gisbergen in fifth position.

Erebus Motorsport’s Will Davison climbed to a strong sixth position, despite suffering from extra drag due to a side window coming off on his Mercedes E63 AMG.

Jason Bright crossed the line in seventh position ahead of Nick Percat and the top Nissan driver in the form of Michael Caruso in ninth place. Craig Lowndes managed tenth position after a mistake in qualifying which saw him starting 15th, as well as having to wait behind Whincup during that frantic pitstop during the safety car session.

V8 Supercars continues on December 5-7th with the season finale in Sydney.