Photo: DJR Team Penske

Scott McLaughlin beats Jamie Whincup to victory at Phillip Island

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Scott McLaughlin beat championship rival Jamie Whincup to victory to claim the championship lead after the first Supercars race of the weekend at Phillip Island.

The DJR Team Penske driver started from pole position but was beaten off the line by Whincup. The Triple Eight Race Engineering driver then kept the lead until the final third of the race when McLaughlin threw his Ford Falcon on the inside of Whincup’s Holden Commodore. McLaughlin went on to win the race by close to one second.

Rick Kelly took the best result for Nissan Motorsport this year with third place, albeit never in touch with the leading duo during the race.

Shane van Gisbergen managed to secure fourth in his Triple Eight Holden, despite a power steering issue that had the team considering replacing his steering wheel for a bigger one during the pit stops. The pit crew did not change the steering wheel however, and Van Gisbergen crossed the line in fourth, nine seconds from the leaders.

Team-mate Craig Lowndes crossed the line in fifth position but was let past by van Gisbergen at the end of the race in an attempt for him to catch Kelly in third. As Lowndes never got close enough, he backed off to let van Gisbergen past again.

Chaz Mostert finished sixth for Tickford Racing with Erebus Motorsport driver David Reynolds crossing the line in seventh to keep third in the championship.

Erebus Motorsport team-mate Anton de Pasquale rounded off the top eight.

DJR Team Penske driver Fabian Coulthard had a tough day, starting from the back of the grid and managed to climb back up to 13th ahead of Ford driver Mark Winterbottom. Coulthard was supposed to start at the front but was disqualified from qualifying as his rear wing did not meet the regulations.

Garry Rogers Motorsport driver James Golding was given a 15-second penalty for turning Simona De Silvestro into a spin. Golding finished 25th while De Silvestro finished 23rd.

McLaughlin heads the points table with 797 points, a single point ahead of Whincup, while Reynolds trails McLaughlin by 54 points and van Gisbergen by 59.