Scott McLaughlin says final lap was “one of the coolest” to maiden Bathurst victory

Newly crowned Bathurst 1000 champion Scott McLaughlin has said the 161st lap of this year’s race was one of the coolest as he fought off a challenge from his rivals to win the Great Race for DJR Team Penske.

The championship leader led a majority of the race with co-driver Alexandre Premat keeping cool under pressure in his stints against main drivers, handing the car over to McLaughlin in a position to fight for the race win.

A late race safety car set up a one-lap sprint to the chequered flag though the amount of fuel in the race winning #17 was marginal with fears that it may not have made the finish had the caution period not happened.

Speaking of the last lap, McLaughlin said he noticed the fans at the top of the Mountain before the restart but kept his head down for a first win at Mount Panorama.

“I could see the people on the safety car laps, waving their Ford flags, getting pretty excited about everything,” McLaughlin said.

“For me, I had work to do with Shane (van Gisbergen) behind me and JC (James Courtney) so I had to push to no end. I knew with that last lap I had to save as much fuel as I could so I could go flat out.

“That ended up in me having no tyre pressure and the warmth had gone so the first few corners were a bit skatey but then over the top it was full commitment.

“It was probably one of the coolest laps to be honest; low fuel and low tyre grip, just sliding it around. It was unreal.”

Running low on fuel after stopping under safety car before the critical lap number earlier in the stint, McLaughlin was constantly being fed a fuel number to chase as Jamie Whincup in the lead, and in a similar fuel dilemma, was told to push on.

Though he came home with fuel in reserve, McLaughlin was asked after the race whether he thought he would really make it to the end.

“It sounds like we would have but I was only doing the numbers Richard my engineer was telling me,” he said.

“I had trust their judgement more than anyone’s, I just did what i was told like a schoolboy. I knew it was big and we had to save some fuel, I’m so glad we got it done.

“When they’re saying he (Whincup) is probably going to pit unless there’s a safety car, you just believe in your team and watching that number, hitting it right.

“Thankfully we had enough pace to be able to hit it more than we thought but when he pitted under safety car and got the lead, I knew the clear air was going to help even though we gained a lot in the draft.

“You always trust your team and trust your gut in how you drive the car, certainly saving fuel there was a lot easier than I thought.”

McLaughlin has now notched up 18 wins this season and delivered Dick Johnson his first Bathurst victory since the 1994 1000, a race that the now team owner won with co-driver John Bowe.

The victory is also the first for Roger Penske in the iconic race, The Captain taking a majority share in Dick Johnson Racing at the end of 2014. Penske’s IMSA team took out their championship in the USA at Petit Le Mans while Bathurst was underway.