Scott McLaughlin rues qualifying error, but excited for race day

V8 Supercars Championship driver Scott McLaughlin will start fourth on the grid for his first race in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship on Sunday, after a mistake on his single-lap shootout saw him drop behind Dacia’s Mattias Andersson, but the New Zealander is looking forward to racing with the field from fourth and ninth on Sunday.

McLaughlin set the second fastest time of the day in the first part of qualifying, finishing ahead of four-time champion and team-mate Richard Göransson in that segment of qualifygin, giving him the penultimate run in the one-lap shootout, but a mistake saw him set a time of 50.255, putting him behind his two Volvo team-mates as well as Andersson’s Dacia SE.

“Q1 was good, for me I think that was the fastest I could have gone,” said McLaughin to TouringCarTimes.

“In Q2, I just stuffed up. I made a mistake and slid, but I’m still happy to have to set the second fastest lap of the day.”

His first laps on Saturday were an impressive debut, but the 22-year-old is more interested in fighting on race day.

“I’m actually looking forward to the race. Doing laps is cool, but you come here to race, it’s the race and the battling that’s going to be fun,” he said.