McLAUGHLIN WINS RACE 28 AT THE BEND SUPERSPRINT

September 26, 2020

Fabian Coulthard - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Qualifying – Part 1: 6th (Fastest Lap: 1m15.9500s)
Qualifying – Part 2: 5th (Fastest Lap: 1m15.4749s)
Top 15 Shootout: 15th (Fastest Lap: 1m15.9711s)
Race 27: 9th (Fastest Lap: 1m16.9090s)

Scott McLaughlin - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Qualifying – Part 1: 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m15.3038s)
Qualifying – Part 2: 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m15.0343s)
Top 15 Shootout: 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m15.1994s)
Race 27 Finishing Position: 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m16.6074s)

RACE 28 RECAP
McLaughlin claimed his 55th Supercars Championship race win today in Race 28 at The Bend SuperSprint.

This weekend's racing is on the shorter ‘West' circuit configuration which removes six corners and one mile from the ‘International' circuit that was raced on last weekend. 

In Qualifying, McLaughlin's form didn't falter from last weekend as he claimed his 74th career pole and started the race from the front row. Coulthard struggled with tyre temperature and only clocked a time fast enough for P15.

An issue with the lights forced a delayed start and a second formation lap. Because the race was time-certain, it was reduced from 32 to 31 laps. Once it got underway, McLaughlin got off the start line without any problems to immediately take control of the race. Coulthard jumped up three places to P12.

Fabian was the first of the Shell V-Power Racing Team drivers to stop on lap 6. He locked the wheels coming into his pit bay and overshot, but the crew still executed the stop perfectly and gave him fresh rear tyres. He rejoined the race in P19. 

McLaughlin stopped two laps later and also took on two new rear Dunlop soft tyres. He returned to the race in P17 and in front of Le Brocq who stopped the lap earlier from P2.

When the field had completed their stops, McLaughlin was the race leader but only had a gap of 0.7 to van Gisbergen who was on fresher tyres. Coulthard had fought his way up to P9 and able to hold off Whincup to the chequered flag.

Van Gisbergen didn't let McLaughlin extend his gap and was within half a second in the closing stages of the race. But McLaughlin was able to hang on to claim his 55th Supercars race win, his 12th this season.

McLaughlin extends his lead in the Championship to 263 over Whincup, while Coulthard still sits 6th. The Shell V-Power Team has a 116-point lead over Triple 8.

COULTHARD QUOTE
"I had a good race today. I have already apologised to the boys for overshooting the mark during the stop, and I'm in the clear for that."

"But I had a good battle with Jamie. He had 12-laps fresher tyres, and I was expecting him to get past, but I was able to hang on in key areas."

"We just need to work out what we need to do to switch the tyre on for one lap for qualifying, but we have some smart boys here, so I'm confident we'll get it sorted."

McLAUGHLIN QUOTE
"I had a lot better start than last Saturday, that's for sure. Shane was coming at me pretty hard there, but I tried to leave a little bit in the bank when he was coming at me so I could charge on. When he really got to me and got his tyres hot, and he was in the dirty air, it was quite difficult for him."

"The pit stop from the guys was fantastic, and I'm really proud of everyone at Shell V-Power Racing. Overall, I'm really happy. "