Scott McLaughlin penalised as Bathurst qualifying engine failed technical check

Scott McLaughlin has been retroactively stripped of his Bathurst 1000 pole position as the qualifying engine of his Ford Mustang failed a technical investigation.

The DJR Team Penske driver was also dropped to the back of the Sandown 500 grid, with the team receiving a 30,000AUD fine.

The stewards issued a statement that “the valve lift in a number of cylinders was found to have exceeded the maximum permitted valve lift” of McLaughlin’s qualifying engine for the Bathurst race.

The DJR Team Penske driver’s race victory at Bathurst is not affected as the team had changed the engine before the race. The team issued an apology following the penalty:

“As the lift now measures a few thousandths of an inch high on a few valves, we can only conclude that either the engine wasn’t measured properly when it was initially assembled or the damage that occurred in the engine contributed to a change to the maximum valve lift in the forward cylinders.

We apologize to Scott, Alex, our partners and our supporters, and we will continue to focus on winning our second consecutive Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.”