Newcastle 500: Supercars champ Scott McLaughlin sledged by rival team boss and fellow drivers
The fallout from this year’s controversial Bathurst 1000 hit fever pitch on Friday when champion Scott McLaughlin let fly with an expletive laden spray at a fellow driver in Newcastle.
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James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin allegedly clashed in Newcastle on Friday as the feud between DJR Team Penske and Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) escalated.
Courtney stormed into his team’s garage and complained of having an altercation with McLaughlin before final practice at the Newcastle 500.
Courtney claimed McLaughlin took exception to a joke he made about his teammate Scott Pye, who sensationally called the DJR Team Penske star a cheat.
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Pye was forced to withdraw from practice after being struck down by gastritis.
“How about Scotty Pye getting the squirts?’’ Courtney said.
Courtney alleged he had to tell McLaughlin to calm down after he reacted angrily to what he claimed was a joke.
McLaughlin on Friday night denied reacting aggressively to the comment with the back-to-back champion in waiting adamant he just brushed the comment aside.
The Ford flyer would not comment on the latest round of attacks after Pye slammed him as a cheater on social media on Thursday night.
Courtney’s Walkinshaw Andretti teammate Pye kicked off the fresh round of attacks on McLaughlin and the revelation that he used an illegal engine to qualify for the Bathurst 1000.
“Tired of seeing this rubbish,’’ Pye wrote on social media site Instagram.
“As one of his ‘peers’ I’ve never spoken to Scotty about this or been critical of the team.
“But you must understand that some people are going to be pissed off that a car and team that’s been constantly found to be illegal continues to get meaningless penalties.
“Not saying you wouldn’t have won, clearly doing a great job but who knows. It will forever be tainted.”
He then went even further by comparing McLaughlin to convicted drug cheat Lance Armstrong.
“Even if it was once that’s enough to bring everything into question. Lance Armstrong (most tested athlete) was caught once, but it ruined his whole career,” Pye said.
Pye made the controversial comments after McLaughlin made reference to The Daily Telegraph story that revealed his car was the most checked in history.
“We were found once of a technical infringement in one qualifying out of 325 times being scrutineered,” McLaughlin said.
Originally published as Newcastle 500: Supercars champ Scott McLaughlin sledged by rival team boss and fellow drivers