Ford star Scott McLaughlin remains on track to secure successive Supercars championships despite being upstaged in the Gold Coast 600’s opening race.
Runaway series leader McLaughlin was finally reeled in by the Supercars’ field on the tourist strip, with Jamie Whincup claiming Saturday’s 300km race one just 0.52 of a second ahead of fellow Holden driver Shane van Gisbergen.
McLaughlin – boasting a record 18 wins this season – finished in the unfamiliar position of third.
However, McLaughlin can still clinch the 2019 title with two rounds remaining if he walks away from Sunday’s 300km event holding a 600-point series lead over van Gisbergen.
Red Bull Racing (RBR) gun van Gisbergen whittled away McLaughlin’s championship lead from 622 to 613 points by finishing ahead of him on Saturday.
“We have two rounds after this so I have time (to clinch title) – tomorrow, I will just try to win,” said McLaughlin, who teamed up again with Bathurst co-driver Alex Premat.
“The minute you take it half throttle, that’s when bad things happen.
“If I can wrap it up tomorrow, fantastic. If not, we will go to the next round at Sandown and have another crack.
“But I didn’t quite have the pace today. They (Holden) were first class today and we will need to do a bit tomorrow to beat them.”
RBR’s Whincup claimed his ninth career win on the Gold Coast, teaming up with co-driver Craig Lowndes for their first victory together since 2008.
It marked only the second win of the 2019 season and first since Ipswich in July for Whincup, moving him from fifth to third in the drivers’ standings.
Van Gisbergen – who partnered Garth Tander – was finishing fast and on fresh tyres but was told by his garage to hold off and ensure a RBR one-two finish.
“Initially, I thought it (decision to hold off) stank but the one-two for the team is more important. Being a team player will pay back – it’s all worth it,” van Gisbergen said.
The victory was set up when Lowndes was able to get the jump on pole sitter McLaughlin’s teammate Premat at the race start, at one stage holding a five-second lead.
“This is what our day was all about – a really good launch off the grid,” Whincup said of Lowndes.
“It wasn’t the quickest car out there but it was very competitive.
“Shane was firing in the end there on better tyres but was quite kind to me with 10 laps to go.”
Remarkably, there was just one safety car on the tough, concrete wall-lined street circuit after Garry Jacobson’s Nissan lost its exhaust on turn four with 14 of the race’s 102 laps left.
There was drama before the race after provisional pole sitter Chaz Mostert crashed out in the top-10 shootout, ruling him out of the entire weekend’s action.