Scott McLaughlin in championship lead after Adelaide 500 victory
Defending Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin has started his campaign for a hat-trick of titles by moving into the championship lead after taking out the Sunday race at the Adelaide 500.
The DJR Team Penske driver inherited the lead late in the race after leading the opening stanza after a fuel issue for pole-sitter Shane van Gisbergen, the Triple Eight Holden man having to pit a third time to make the minimum fuel drop before a shock failure took him out of the race with only a handful of laps to go.
The Kiwis enjoyed a hard-fought battle in the opening laps after starting alongside each other van Gisbergen on the pole and McLaughlin in second. They got an even initial jump off the line into the Senna Chicane but the defending event champion prevailed, getting the #17 Mustang into the lead.
Though race one went safety car free, it didn’t take a full lap for the race to be brought under the control of race officials when a clumsy move by David Reynolds on Team 18’s Mark Winterbottom spun his Erebus Motorsport partner Anton de Pasquale at Turn 9.
With nowhere to go, Team 18’s second car, driven by Scott Pye, climbed over the front of de Pasquale’s spun Commodore, breaking the #20 car’s suspension and taking both entrants out of the race.
The race restarted a few laps later and Jamie Whincup soon broke from the mould to take an early pit stop, the Triple Eight driver copying McLaughlin’s Saturday strategy which elevated the DJR Team Penske #17 pilot from seventh to second.
Tickford’s Lee Holdsworth came in on the next lap and emerged in front of Whincup, negating the advantage of the #88’s undercut and giving him someone new to race.
It didn’t take long for the second safety car to appear when, on lap 13, Team Sydney’s Chris Pither locked up into Turn 11 and had his Commodore stuck in gear, unable to back out and needing to be towed.
van Gisbergen got into the lead after the first round of pit stops under safety car thanks to a slow reaction from McLaughlin’s crew, the DJR Team Penske squad not making use of their pit position which allowed the #97 to be short-fuelled and jump the #17.
Throughout the next stint van Gisbergen dictated the pace, stretching out a lead over McLaughlin which would be enough to cover their final stops as the pair ran away from the chasing pack behind them.
Highlighted by the three Tickford cars of Cam Waters, Will Davison and Holdsworth, the trio were battling Whincup and ex-team-mate Chaz Mostert who had taken a long first stop in the Walkinshaw Andretti United car.
As the final round of pit stops arrived, van Gisbergen was able to get back out on track in front of McLaughlin with a larger margin despite having a larger drop of fuel to take on board the #97.
van Gisbergen’s extended gap was revealed to be a cause of being released too early from his stop, not making the minimum fuel drop which forced the three-time event champion to pit again.
In the final ten laps Waters started to apply the pressure on Mostert, ranging up on the back of the WAU car and re-engaging their scrap from the day, and season, before. More fuel was added to the fire when van Gisbergen came in for his top on lap 69, emerging behind the pair but on fresh Dunlop rubber.
With just over five laps to go, van Gisbergen got to the back of Waters despite reporting a broken shock in the front of the #97 Commodore, lunging to make a move at Turn 7 before it finally failed, taking him out of the race in sight of the chequered flag.
McLaughlin came home with a healthy margin, taking his first win since last year’s Bathurst 1000 while Mostert took his first podium for WAU in a massive change of form for the Clayton team, edging out Waters for the second spot.
Davison ended up in front of Whincup and Holdsworth while local boy Nick Percat got to seventh in the Brad Jones Racing Commodore. Reynolds recovered from the earlier incident to finish eighth ahead of Fabian Coulthard and Andre Heimgartner, the Kiwis finishing well for DJR Team Penske and Kelly Racing respectively.
