Supercars: Scott McLaughlin triumphs as Ford locks out Holden
The Mustang monstered the Commodore at Phillip Island as Scott McLaughlin extended his championship lead on Saturday.
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The Mustang monstered the Commodore at Phillip Island as Scott McLaughlin extended his championship lead on Saturday.
On another day of dominance that is likely to re-ignite the parity debate, McLaughlin and the Mustang combined to continue Holden’s season of woe with the Commodore crashing to a podium lock-out.
With a best race lap time that was almost a second slower than McLaughlin, Dave Reynolds finished fourth to be the best of the Commodores as the DJR/Team Penske Mustangs finish with another one-two.
“It is great for the team,’’ McLaughlin said.
“It is awesome to get a one-two for the team. We controlled the race from the start and it was great to get another win at a place I really love.’’
McLaughlin is fast proving himself to be in another league. Racking up his seventh race win of the year and extending his championship lead by 136 points, McLaughlin led from start to finish to beat teammate Coulthard by 1.2 seconds.
The reigning champion also broke his own Phillip Island lap record with a time of 1.30.95.
“It is great for the team,’’ McLaughlin said.
“We are having a really strong season. There has been a lot of focus and a lot of hard work behind the scenes.’’
Earlier, McLaughlin continued his stunning qualifying blitz by claiming his seventh straight pole.
In a display of utter dominance, McLaughlin beat every driver except teammate Coulthard by more than a second to land his ninth qualifying win of the year.
“The team gave me an awesome car,” he said.
“After that last lap I said to them ‘I don’t want to go out again because that’s literally the fastest I can go’.
“I’m pretty happy with that 1:29.2 and a front-row lockout for Shell V-Power Racing.
“I worked hard on that overnight and came out with the goods.”
Holden copped a qualifying hammering with the Scott Pye finishing eighth fastest in the quickest Commodore.
The lack of one-lap speed made it mission impossible to beat the Mustang.
The Holden horror show is likely to re-spark the parity debate after the Mustang was allegedly slowed down before the Tasmanian round.
Following complaints from Holden based teams, a Supercars test revealed the Mustangs were carrying an unfair “centre of gravity’’ of gravity advantage.
Holden snatched their first win in Tasmania last started after the Mustangs were ordered to redistribute weight.
Jamie Whincup was the hardest Holden hit with the V8 immortal’s horror run continuing when he failed to bounce back from trying round in Tasmania.
Locked in a championship battle with McLaughlin until he was struck down a Symmons Plains, Whincup crashed to his worst qualifying at Phillip Island since 2003 before a dodgy wheel saw him fail to finish in a further fail.
“We maximized what we had in the car so we don’t deserve to be in Q2,” Whincup said.
“I can’t remember a car with so little grip than that, I would have to go back 15 years I reckon.
“We struggled at the test day, really struggling this weekend. No performance, so what do you do? You’ve just got to keep working.
“We haven’t been this far back for a longtime. We have been quick at stages but far too slow at other stages.’’
The Mustangs were always expected to prove too strong on the fast flowing track that suits their style – but the utter domination might force Holden teams to demand further parity tests.
Nissan snuck through to claim the last place on the podium with Andre Heimgartner producing his career best drive to finish third.
Originally published as Supercars: Scott McLaughlin triumphs as Ford locks out Holden
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