Photo: DJR Team Penske

Scott McLaughlin withstands pressure to win as Triple Eight claims title

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Scott McLaughlin withstood had pressure from reigning champion Jamie Whincup to claim an important victory in the second Pukekohe race as Triple Eight Race Engineering claimed the teams’ title.

DJR Team Penske driver McLaughlin claimed the lead after the final pit stop but came under hard pressure from Whincup who tried everything to get past, but was unsuccessful.

Whincup then let off to have his team-mate and drivers’ title contender Shane van Gisbergen go past and secure second place in the race, over 12 seconds behind McLaughlin.

The victory for the Ford driver has increased the gap to van Gisbergen in the championship from two points after yesterday’s race to 14 points ahead of the season finale.

Van Gisbergen lost vital time during his first pit stop as the team opted to change ride height on his Holden Commodore, failing to remove one of the safety stands, forcing the team to raise the car again before releasing him.

The mistake dropped the Triple Eight driver to sixth position, forcing him to fight back and lose too much time on McLaughlin to challenge the Ford driver for the lead.

Craig Lowndes finished fourth after fighting his way from eleventh position on the grid with Erebus Motorsport driver David Reynolds rounding off the top five.

Chaz Mostert was once again the top Tickford Racing driver in sixth position ahead of McLaughlin’s team-mate Fabian Coulthard in seventh and Nissan Motorsport driver Andre Heimgartner rounding off the top eight.

The Newcastle season finale takes place on November 24-25th.