Supercars rivals Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen vying for title glory in Newcastle

FOR the second straight Supercars season, two Gold Coast linked drivers will take to the streets of Newcastle to decide what has been a fascinating championship tussle.

FOR the second straight Supercars season, two Gold Coast linked drivers will take to the streets of Newcastle to decide what has been a fascinating championship tussle.

This time last year, Jamie Whincup clinched a record seventh crown in intense, dramatic scenes after Scott McLaughlin was penalised for a late-race collision with Craig Lowndes.

Fast forward to now and former Saint Stephen’s College student McLaughlin is again in the thick of it but this time is up against Whincup’s teammate Shane van Gisbergen, who lives on the Coast.

DJR Team Penske spearhead McLaughlin holds a slender 14-point lead over Red Bull Holden Racing Team ace van Gisbergen, with none of the 24 other drivers on the grid still in contention.

Shane van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin. Picture: Tim Hunter

The pair’s respective teams have often traded barbs as the two clear heavyweight outfits in the sport and the rivalry between the two Kiwi drivers has increasingly began to bubble away the more it became clear it was a two-horse race.

Van Gisbergen this week moved to downplay a “fake rivalry” with McLaughlin but the Bulletin here takes the chance to recall some fiery moments in the past two months that would suggest otherwise.

■ October 3, van Gisbergen: “As a team, our three cars work so closely and that’s been key because they (McLaughlin and Coulthard) seem to work separately and race against each other. Working together has really been helpful to push the team forward and now we’re up there fighting and putting a lot of pressure on them, or trying to.”

■ October 3, McLaughlin responds before storming off: “That’s pretty interesting. There hasn’t been much contact between myself and Fabian unlike those guys. At least they are talking about us because obviously they are a little bit worried.”

■ October 21, van Gisbergen again plays at the teamwork theme: “We’re a three-car team versus a one-car team.”

McLaughlin and van Gisbergen in close quarters on track. Picture: Getty Images

■ November 1, McLaughlin: “There has been a lot of chitchat between the two sides but I’m looking forward to dropping all the crap and getting on with it.”

■ November 3, van Gisbergen beats McLaughlin to first place on the Saturday race in New Zealand and backs that up by parking so close to McLaughlin’s driver-side door in pit lane that his clearly frustrated adversary is unable to hop out. Van Gisbergen later called it a “mistake” while McLaughlin that night took to Instagram to write: “Good news is I wasn’t parked in on the way home.”

■ November 4, McLaughlin bites his tongue as he hits back with a victory in the Sunday race to re-widen his points advantage, while van Gisbergen limits the damage by taking second place on the final lap ahead of Whincup, who had controversially slowed down.

McLaughlin, 25, is gunning for his maiden championship; 29-year-old van Gisbergen has won once before in 2016.

A maximum of 300 points is up for grabs across 250km races on Saturday and Sunday at the Newcastle finale.