SUPER SATURDAY FOR SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN
Super Saturday for Scott McLaughlin – Photo: Dirk Klynsmith
Scott McLaughlin has stretched his lead in the Supercars Championship by winning Race 15 on Saturday at Queensland Raceway.
McLaughlin dominated the race, after giving best to Craig Lowndes in the opening two laps of the race. Once he passed the TeamVortex Holden he consolidated his lead, only to lose it in a slow pitstop. From there it took only one lap for him to retake the point and drive away from the field.
Chaz Mostert was second, coming from behind to pick off some of the cars in front of him.
“I was worried in the first stint, with the tyre degradation,” he said, “but my car held on pretty good in the second stint.
“One good result today doesn’t change the results we had in the past couple of rounds.”
One of the drives of the race came from Shane van Gisbergen, who made a risky late-pitstop strategy work for him. He stopped at the mid-point of the 39-lap race, catching third placed Tim Slade on the final lap of the race.
“This track is not exciting to drive but the racing is always awesome,” he said.
As van Gisbergen picked up pace, Lowndes lost his, falling back to an eventual fifth place.
Tim Slade passing Craig Lowndes for fourth – Photo: Dirk Klynsmith
That was behind Slade, who drove very strongly in the Freightliner Commodore, to score his best result of the season so far.
Jamie Whincup finished 20th after a terrible day. After losing five grid spots for a pitlane infraction in Qualifying, he also had a slow pitstop when his high-pressure air line failed to connect properly.
As a result McLaughlin’s lead over Whincup has gone out to 111 points, after having brought a lead of six points to Ipswich.
Sunday’s action starts at 1140 with Qualifying for Race 16, which starts at 1405, over 65 laps.
Make sure you follow Auto Action on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest updates across the Supercars round at Queensland Raceway this weekend.
