Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin edge closer toward incredible Supercars title showdown with strong form in Townsville SuperSprint
The Ford v Holden Supercars fight between Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup hit fever pitch in Townsville on Sunday, with both men claiming races to ensure the tightest of title battles.
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The war between Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup continued on the streets of Townsville with the title fighters landing a win a piece to set the championship alight.
With Whincup striking first to make it a Townsville double, McLaughlin flew in his Ford to hit-back in the final race.
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After losing almost 100 points to his Red Bull rival in the first two races, McLaughlin clawed his way back to the top by holding off a fired-up Cameron Waters.
“That is a great finish to the weekend,” McLaughlin said.
“We still have a bit of work to do but I am proud of all the guys for continually working hard and getting the last win of the weekend.
Whincup finished third in the final race to continue his resurrection after claiming the first two wins.
“We will go away happy,” Whincup said.
“We came to win the round and did. We have to keep on chip[ping away because it is our responsibility to make it a championship and not let one guy get out in front and dominate. We will make a race of it.”
QUALIFYING
Whincup and McLaughlin continued their championship fight in qualifying with the heavyweight pair grabbing a pole a piece.
Striking first to continue his red-hot Townsville form, Whincup followed up his race one win by blasting the field as McLaughlin suffered another fail.
While Whincup belted out a 1.12.31 to make it back-to-back poles, McLaughlin clocked a 1.12.70 to finish 13th fastest.
“The car was good as it was yesterday and we maximised it there,” said Whincup.
“Full respect to (engineer David) Cauchi for getting it right.”
McLaughlin hit back in the final session to go quickest as Whincup finished fourth.
“We thought we were there or thereabouts yesterday but came out this morning and the car was sort of nowhere,” said McLaughlin.
“After that we made a change and it was hooked up in that second run so I’m really, really happy. I’m pretty pumped with that one.”
RACE ONE
Whincup was untouchable as he doubled up to continue his assault on Scott McLaughlin.
Leading from start to finish and never in trouble, the Holden hero beat Chaz Mostert by over three seconds as McLaughlin was forced to fight his way through the field.
After winning race one, Whincup proved himself the king of Townsville by winning his 12th Reid Park street race.
“I got a good start and a good battle with Chaz down into Turn 2 and from there the car was excellent,” said Whincup.
“We don’t normally go for a long strategy. We normally come pretty short but it was great to be able to go long and have some good tyres for the end there.
“We’ve used a fair bit of our tyres up as well. We’ll do our best in the last one to try to hang in there as well as we possibly can.”
Starting back in 13th, McLaughlin charged his way to 6th to limit the championship damage.
“I was too safe at the start,” McLaughlin said.
“There’s a lot of kamikazes out there with nothing to lose and I’ve got plenty to lose. I knew we had car pace if we got clean air and we got it. Sixth is really good.
“We’ve got a car that can win a race, we just need track position. Our tyre life then was unbelievable.”
RACE TWO
McLaughlin got the jump off the line but was unable to get away from the fellow Ford of Cameron Waters.
In a relentless duel that was not decided until after the final stop, McLaughlin survived several assaults before he began to pull away with ten laps to go.
“It was an awesome battle with Cam,” McLaughlin said.
“He was fast. I am really happy to get a win on a tough weekend.”
Whincup went long on the reverse strategy and charged late to make it a near perfect weekend by claiming a podium.
“We did the best we could today,” Whincup said.
“We didn’t qualify as well as we liked but the car hung in there. All in all with three podiums for the weekend I couldn’t be happier.”
Whincup now trails McLaughlin by 123 points.
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BEST OF THE REST
Tickford Racing are within striking distance of Penske and Triple Eight after a stunning weekend of speed in Townsville.
Led by Cameron Waters, Tickford took another step to becoming a genuine champion force with James Courtney and Lee Holdsworth also strong across the three races.
Walkinshaw racing also continued a resurrection with only a flat tyre stopping Mostert from challenging for another good result following his race two podium.
Nick Percat continued his stellar season by finishing the final race in fourth.
‘RADIO ‘F***ED’: WHINCUP TUNES INTO WINNING GROOVE
His radio may have been “f---ed” but there was nothing wrong with his car.
Jamie Whincup revived his bid for a record extending 8th crown by flooring Scott McLaughlin in a bruising first instalment of the Townsville 400.
And the Holden hero did it in the dark after a radio failure forced him to become a silent assassin.
“It was a challenge today because we lost radio on about lap 10,” Whincup said.
“I was screaming to the guys to put the board out because I didn’t see the checkered flag.”
Whincup ended up completing an extra lap and dumping his car in the middle of the track after not knowing the race had finished.
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He was seen shouting “the radio is f---ked as he scaled a fence to make it back into pit-lane.
“I didn’t see the board so I just decided to keep on going until I saw the checkered flag,” Whincup said.
“I was just trying to wing it with no radio.”
Making McLaughlin pay for a shock qualifying error, V8 immortal Whincup led start from finish to claw his way back into title contention.
In a race that began with a turn two pile up that claimed Shane van Gisbergen, the Red Bull Holden Racing star was never challenged as he outpaced Cameron Waters and Chaz Mostert to rack up his 114th win.
“All in all I am wrapped,” Whincup said.
“We needed a win and we grabbed it.”
McLaughlin survived the turn two carnage to finish 7th in what was a rescue mission after he qualified in 16th.
Whincup narrowed McLaughlin’s championship lead to 137 points.
RARE ERROR
Following a war of words, Dave Reynolds won the first fight in the battle of Townsville when Scott McLaughlin made a once in a blue moon error in qualifying to ruin his race.
In a mishap that proved him mortal, McLaughlin made a first sector blunder to miss the top-ten shootout and record his worst qualifying result since 2018.
The red-hot favourite to score pole after his Darwin three-peat, McLaughlin qualified in 16th with a time of 1min12.67 after a mistake saw him miss the top-10.
The DJR Team Penske star was quick to put his hand up after blowing his race one winning chance.
“I just made a mistake,” McLaughlin said.
“You get one set of tyres and one chance and I made an error. I made a slight bias change and I just locked the rears coming into one and I was wide. If you make one mistake in the series than you are gone. That is why we love it. I am pissed off with myself for making the mistake but it is what it is.”
NO INVITATION NEEDED
Whincup jumped on McLaughlin following the miss to win the top-ten shootout and put himself back in the championship race.
After being outgunned in Darwin, the Holden hero took his chance to bridge the points gap to McLaughlin by knocking off Dave Reynolds to secure the pole that put him back into title contention.
“It’s crazy how it turned around,” said Whincup.
“We had a bit of a lemon in practice, and then we tuned it up for qualifying and then another little tweak for the shootout.
“The car was fantastic, I was lucky enough to get the most out of it.”
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