McLaughlin: 2020 championship will be about details and consistency

Race two winner Scott McLaughlin has said he and the DJR Team Penske squad made the best of a bad situation for their rivals to take out this year’s Adelaide 500.

The young Kiwi was in danger of losing a race win after a crucial pit stop mistake let rival Shane van Gisbergen through to the lead after the first round of stops, giving Triple Eight control of the race with pace to burn.

A mistake in van Gisbergen’s stop resulted in the three-time event champion having to make a third stop and push hard towards the end of the race, eventually posting a DNF after a late control arm failure while McLaughlin went on to win.

Speaking after the race to the Supercars Live team, McLaughlin said he couldn’t keep up with his adversary through the race and was lucky to come out on top.

“Commiserations to Shane and his crew, I didn’t quite have the pace especially behind him,” McLaughlin said.

“I think if we got out in front after that first stop then we could’ve had a bit more of a race together; he was definitely the fastest car but with me in front of him it would’ve been tough.

“You’ve got to take your luck where you can, the championship this year is going to be all about details and consistency.

“This weekend with a second and a first, I wanted two podiums so to end it with a win is unreal.”

Since losing the 2017 title by just 21 points, McLaughlin is aware of how important it is to maximise a bad result and that van Gisbergen will continue to push him as he has done for the past two seasons.

“You’ve got to be on your game with Shane because he is so smart with where he puts the car and the pressure he puts you under, he thinks two or three corners ahead.

“Days like this you really enjoy and you can easily come off the back of it like Shane’s weekend where you have a good first race and then you have a bad one.

“I’ll take them where I can and we’ll keep being consistent for the rest of the year.”

McLaughlin now holds a 27 point advantage over Triple Eight’s Jamie Whincup heading in to the Australian Grand Prix support round, an event he took three out of four wins in last year. The second round of the championship will be held from the 12th to 15th of March.