Scott McLaughlin extends advantage with eleventh win in Darwin opener

Defending champion Scott McLaughlin has extended his advantage at the head of the Supercars standings after securing an eleventh victory of the season in the opening race in Darwin.

The DJR Team Penske driver started from pole for the 56th time in his career after heading qualifying in his Ford Mustang and produced a dominant performance on track to lead the race from start-to-finish, ultimately ending up nearly seven seconds clear of Chaz Mostert.

McLaughlin’s win allowed him to move nearly 300 points clear of team-mate Fabian Coulthard in the standings and was dedicated to his engineer Richard Harris, who was forced to leave the circuit to fly home to the UK following the death of his father.

Victory from pole gave McLaughlin the first piece of the Darwin Triple Crown, which he will secure on Sunday if he can repeat his pole/victory performance.

“You would love to try and do it (the triple crown) but today unfortunately my engineer Richards’ dad passed away in the early hours of the morning,” he said. “This if for him, I am not really worried about the triple crown at the moment, just the welfare of my boys.”

Mostert made his gains to secure a place on the podium courtesy of an early pitstop having started from sixth on the grid, allowing him to undercut a number of drivers – including David Reynolds and Will Davison – to secure second place.

Reynolds, who had qualified on the front row of the grid, chased him home in third despite a clash with Davison as the pair exited the pits after their stops; a clash that resulted in a time penalty that dropped Davison down the order to end up outside the top ten.

“It was marginal,” Davison said. “I got the call and tried to back out of it,” Davison said. “It was a disappointing last stint anyway to be honest, so I am not sure if we had a lot to challenge anyway.”

Cam Waters just missed out on the podium places in fourth ahead of Jamie Whincup, who gambled on a longer opening stint to run on fresher tyres towards the end, with Lee Holdsworth rounding out the top six.

Coulthard could only manage seventh to lose ground on McLaughlin in the title race, with Shane van Gisbergen, James Courtney and Scott Pye rounding out the top ten.