McLaughlin Keeps Championship Lead in Queensland

July 22, 2018

IPswich SuperSprint – Sunday, July 22 – Qualifying & Race 20
 
Fabian Coulthard - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford

Qualifying – 4th (Fastest Lap: 1m08.6350s)
Race 20 – 5th (Fastest Lap: 1m10.1238s)
 
Scott McLaughlin - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford

Qualifying – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m08.4900s)
Race 20 – 2nd  (Fastest Lap: 1m09.9837s)

RECAP:  Scott McLaughlin started from first place on the grid after taking his tenth pole of 2018 earlier in the day. Shane van Gisbergen – who started off second – got a stellar start, pushing McLaughlin into second for the opening stint of the race. He took his first stop on lap 10, and came back out in effective first place after racing Chaz Mostert at pit exit. Scott maintained that position until his second stop on lap 35. Van Gisbergen took service one lap later, and dropped out onto the circuit one-and-a-half seconds in front of McLaughlin. Despite his best efforts, McLaughlin would stay in that spot for the final 30 laps of the race. He maintains his Championship lead, 131 points in front of Van Gisbergen. Coulthard's race was a relatively lonely one, sitting in fourth place until his first stop on lap 11. He maintained that spot through the middle stint of the race, before taking his final stop on lap 38. Whincup jumped him in the final stops, so he rejoined in fifth position and stayed there for the remainder of the race, running to fuel and tyre wear numbers to make it to the finish. He remains sixth in the points, with the team second on the ladder.

COULTHARD QUOTE: "My start was OK, but we just didn't have the tyre life of the guys in front of us today. We stuck to our strategy, and we weren't in much of a position to change it too much due to that tyre life we had. I was just driving to maintain the gap to those behind me and take some points home."

MCLAUGHLIN QUOTE: "We didn't get the start, and then once we got up to Shane we didn't have enough to get past. I think we probably had the pace if we'd been in front, and would have been able to keep the gap like he did. I think Shane and I probably had the two best cars out there, and we maximised those today. I can't be unhappy. Two poles, a win and a second, and we leave with the same points gap we arrived with. A good weekend overall."