Photo: DJR Team Penske

Scott McLaughlin takes seventh Supercars win of 2018 at Queensland Raceway

By

Scott McLaughlin won the first Supercars championship race of the weekend at Queensland Raceway, heading the Triple Eight Race Engineering trio of Shane van Gisbergen, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.

The DJR Team Penske driver started from pole position and kept the lead throughout the race.

But the strongest start of them all was made by Holden driver van Gisbergen, launching from eighth on the grid to claim third position before the end of the first lap.

Chaz Mostert had qualified a strong second on the grid but was given a three-place grid penalty for impeding van Gisbergen during qualifying. The Kiwi was shuffled wide by Whincup at the beginning of the race while fighting for sixth, dropping further places but managed to get back to finish the race in sixth position.

Lowndes fought hard during the race to claim the final podium position, pulling a nice move on Mostert just as team-mate van Gisbergen hade made his way past the Ford driver.

Whincup opted for a late stop strategy and made up ground toward the end of the race thanks to his fresh tyres, passing both Mostert and McLaughlin’s team-mate Fabian Coulthard in the closing stages.

Coulthard crossed the line in fifth position ahead of Mostert while David Reynolds finished seventh for Erebus Motorsport. James Courtney rounded off the top eight for Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Today’s victory has McLaughlin in the lead by 143 points over van Gisbergen and 433 points over Whincup.

The second race of the weekend at Queensland Raceway starts at 14:05 local time tomorrow.