SUPER MAC COULD RACE IN USA NEXT YEAR

Team Penske boss Tim Cindric has provided the biggest hint yet that the reigning Supercars champ could be heading Stateside. – Image: LAT

Team Penske boss Tim Cindric has dropped a huge hint that Scott McLaughlin could switch to racing in the USA next year.

By MARK FOGARTY

Confirming that a decision on DJR Team Penske’s driver line-up in 2020 will be made by the end of this month, Cindric has also cheekily introduced the possibility that a replacement for McLaughlin might be needed.

While speculation has concentrated on Chaz Mostert vying for Fabian Coulthard’s place at DJRTP, there now might be a chance that ‘Super Mac’ will be despatched to the States to race for Team Penske in NASCAR or IMSA sports cars.

Such a move would make Mostert the logical target to take over alongside Coulthard.

Both Mostert and Coulthard are in the final seasons of their current agreements with Tickford Racing and DJRTP respectively.

Cindric, the president of Team Penske, was in Darwin at the weekend, witnessing McLaughlin’s historic Triple Crown sweep.

Asked when DJRTP’s driver line-up for 2020 would be confirmed, he said: “Our goal was to be able to confirm by the end of the month, by the end of June. I wanted to come here and understand the landscape and then go back to the team.

“We’ve had some real good discussions with our people internally, so we’re satisfied.”

Cindric agreed that Penske’s Aussie outpost was close to locking in its line-up for next year and beyond.

But when it was suggested that only McLaughlin’s DJRTP teammate was in discussion, he tantalisingly commented: “As long as the other one stays here.”

Pressed further on McLaughlin’s future, Cindric teased: “As long as he stays here. That’s for you to speculate. When we announce our driver line-up, then you’ll know.”

Cindric’s allusion to the possibility that McLaughlin could leave Supercars to begin his American Team Penske ‘apprenticeship’ as soon as next year tallies with other intelligence AUTO ACTION has received.

A senior DJRTP insider indicated that if McLaughlin successfully defended his title – which is almost now a given – and also won the Bathurst 1000, he would join Team Penske in the USA next year.

While Cindric acknowledged that Team Penske has long-term plans for the Brisbane-based, Australian-raised Kiwi star, he maintained that no firm program had been decided yet.

“We’d love to see him achieve his goals and, collectively, we’re trying to determine what exactly they are and how those can all be achieved,” he said. “He still has goals he wants to accomplish in this series and that whole thing is probably not as simple as just saying let’s go across the pond and go race something.

“You want to set him up for some success rather than just going through the motions of saying ‘Yeah, you get to race in America’. Well, I don’t think he has any interest in just racing in America. He wants to go there and compete at a high level.”

When asked about a multi-year structured program for McLaughlin in the States, and whether it would be Team Penske’s Ford NASCAR or Acura IMSA sports car programs, Cindric was non-committal.

“That plan hasn’t come to fruition yet,” he said. “I think those (NASCAR or IMSA) are all things we haven’t come to a conclusion on what would be the right path yet.

“That crossroads hasn’t come yet.”

Cindric also noted that McLaughlin and Coulthard, who is second in the Supercars championship just over a round behind in points, was a perfect pairing.

“They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do,” he said. “There’s more to it than what happens on the racetrack for us because you have to be good teammates, you have to from a business perspective represent us in the right way, so it’s the combination we look for.”

Whatever happens next year, Team Penske clearly has plans for McLaughlin in the States in the not-too-distant future.

If he doesn’t go next year, it’s almost certain he’ll go in 2021.

In that case, it is widely expected that Mostert will sign an interim deal next year before replacing McLaughlin at DJRTP in ’21 in a pre-arranged deal.

Given Coulthard’s form revival, it is now less likely that he will be ousted by Mostert if McLaughlin stays.

But if the champion-elect moves to the States next year, expect to see Mostert move in.

One way or another, according to Cindric, we’ll know by the end of this month or very early in July.

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