Townsville Supercars: McLaughlin dominates opener

Scott McLaughlin dominated the opening heat of the second Townsville SuperSprint.

The Penske Ford driver stretched his points advantage with ease, converting a clean start from pole into a comfortable win.

His job was made even easier when Shane van Gisbergen, who’d run second throughout the first stint, suffered a power steering issue right before making his stop.

The Red Bull Holden driver did try and continue after stopping to swap his regular steering wheel for Triple Eight’s famous ‘bus wheel’ to make the car easier to turn.

However he was quickly black-flagged for the persistent fluid leak.

It’s unlikely van Gisbergen would have caught McLaughlin anyway, the Kiwi cruising to a 3.4s win over Cam Waters.

“Awesome. We didn’t touch the race car at all from last week. I’m feeling really happy. A bit tired, but all good.”

Waters, who ran third behind van Gisbergen in the first stint, did drop behind Jamie Whincup after his stop thanks to taking on three new tyres to Whincup’s two. 

It didn’t take long for the Monster Ford to find a way back through, van Gisbergen’s retirement leaving him in second. 

He was able to match McLaughlin on the run home, but never looked like hauling the Shell Mustang in.

Chaz Mostert relegated an under-rubbered Whincup to fourth in the second stint as the Walkinshaw driver sealed the final spot on the podium. As a result, Whincup is now 143 points behind McLaughlin in the standings. 

Anton De Pasquale and Nick Percat duked it out for fifth, the Erebus driver getting the job done, while Fabian Coulthard climbed his way from outside the Top 10 to seventh. 

Van Gisbergen wasn’t the only driver struck with power steering issues in the race, meanwhile, with David Reynolds forfeiting a Top 10 spot thanks to a similar issue in Erebus Holden. 

Race results:

Cla#DriverCarGap
117 Scott McLaughlinFord Mustang GT 
26 Cameron WatersFord Mustang GT 3.490
325 Chaz MostertHolden Commodore ZB 10.816
488 Jamie WhincupHolden Commodore ZB 16.008
599 Anton De PasqualeHolden Commodore ZB 17.989
68 Nick PercatHolden Commodore ZB 27.370
712 Fabian CoulthardFord Mustang GT 29.585
855 Jack Le BrocqFord Mustang GT 30.266
920 Scott PyeHolden Commodore ZB 32.539
1044 James CourtneyFord Mustang GT 34.985
1115 Rick KellyFord Mustang GT 39.590
1214 Todd HazelwoodHolden Commodore ZB 42.910
1319 Alex DavisonHolden Commodore ZB 43.867
1418 Mark WinterbottomHolden Commodore ZB 45.084
1535 Garry JacobsonHolden Commodore ZB 45.468
165 Lee HoldsworthFord Mustang GT 45.763
172 Bryce FullwoodHolden Commodore ZB 57.276
187 Andre HeimgartnerFord Mustang GT 59.150
193 Macauley JonesHolden Commodore ZB 1’01.726
2034 Jake KosteckiHolden Commodore ZB 1’02.510
2122 Chris PitherHolden Commodore ZB 1’06.334
224 Jack SmithHolden Commodore ZB 
 97 Shane van GisbergenHolden Commodore ZB 
 9 David ReynoldsHolden Commodore ZB 
View full results


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