MCLAUGHLIN OPENS UP ON “BEST CAR”

Scott McLaughlin opens up on “Best Car” – Photo: InSyde Media

Reigning two-time Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin took all three race wins as part of the Darwin SuperSprint round and after the race described the car as the best he’d ever driven.

By DAN McCARTHY

In the final race of the weekend the DJR Team Penske driver notched up yet another notable milestone, the 50th race win of his illustrious Supercars career.

In the concluding race of the round, with tyres of a similar if not an identical age to his competitors, McLaughlin skipped off into the distance to take the race win by a dominant 13.9s and spoke about the car after the race.

“I love it, love the people, love the track and I love it when my cars like that, that’s hands down probably the best car I’ve ever driven, just all weekend, it was just so solid,” an elated McLaughlin said.

In a post-race press conference when asked by Auto Action about the performance of the Mustang McLaughlin elaborated, explaining that the tyre life and drive out of the corner is what made the car stand out.

“We haven’t put any new parts on (the car) in between the two meetings but we experimented more with the setup,” he said.

“On my side we weren’t entirely happy with the car last week, just with the drive and that’s where we really improved it and it looked after its tyres unbelievably over the course of the race. I think I dropped half a second across my last stint.

“Even though there’s not much deg here, there are a lot of other cars that are dropping a lot more than me so that was a big thing.”

Despite taking multiple poles and race wins in 2020, the only chink in the armour has been pulling away from the line at the start of the races, but with help from teammate Fabian Coulthard, McLaughlin feels he is on the right track.

“I have a great (yardstick), Fabian as a teammate, his starts are unbelievable and I’ve been able to really learn off him over the last couple years,” McLaughlin said.

“He’s still phenomenal on the starts as you can see in the replays. I’m trying to be just as good.

“We have a little competition in the team and he’s absolutely smashing me, but if I got one back I’m happy.”

McLaughlin was very thankful for the hard work that the DJR Team Penske squad had put in during the five-day gap between the Darwin double header events.

“I’m so proud of everyone, they work so hard behind the scenes and everyone back at home as well, just really proud of everyone,” he said.

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