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Scott McLaughlin leaves Supercars for Indycars

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Hi to all you Supercars fans around the world!

The reason why I am doing this post is because it is the end of the 2020 season and the Season Champion, Scott McLaughlin announced his departure from Australian Supercars for an opportunity in the U.S. To drive in the IndyCars series for Team Penske.

I want to highlight Scott McLaughlin’s amazing career in Australian Supercars. He is an amazing talent the likes of which we won’t see again for a long time.

Scott McLaughlin was born on the 10th of June, 1993 in New Zealand.

Scott McLaughlin started driving karts when he was 6 years old and started racing when he was 7 years old. Soon he was representing New Zealand in competitions overseas.

At the age of 9 he and his family moved to Australia.

In 2010 at the tender age of 16 years old he became the youngest driver ever in V8 Supercars, racing for Stone Brothers Racing in the Dunlop Super2 Series.

His hard work soon paid off. Early in 2011 he hit another high point at the age of 17 becoming the youngest driver ever to win a race in the NZ Touring Car Series championship.

In 2012 it all came together. He became the NZ Super Tourers Series champion. He also competed in the Dunlop V8 Supercars series and took the title for that as well.

Scott McLaughlin also made his debut at Sandown and Bathurst as co-driver to Jonathon Webb.

After he won that he got called up from Garry Rogers to replace Alex Premat in the Sydney 500. Alex Premat was unable to race due to heat exhaustion from racing the day before.

In 2013 Scott McLaughlin became full time driver in the V8 Supercars Championship Series.

In that same year he won 2 races at Pukekohe Park Raceway, New Zealand (race 6) and the again at Queensland Raceway (race 22).

From 2014 to 2016 Scott McLaughlin continued to drive in the Garry Rogers team, now going by the name ‘Volvo Polestar Racing.

In 2017 he switched to Dick Jonson Racing (DJR) and was teamed up with another excellent driver, Fabian Coulthard. It was a good match. McLaughlin in his Falcon proved to be fast. So fast he earned 16 pole positions for the season (now that is a lot – something like 50% of the races).

He even proved to be stiff competition to legend Jamie Whincup. Whincup had won the series championship in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

In the last race of the season the Newcastle 500, Whincup was leading the championship going in. In the first race Whincup crashed out and Scott McLaughlin won. McLaughlin was now leading the point score for the championship. Things were very tense. It all came down to the last race.

McLaughlin made quite a few mistakes in that race probably due to nerves and was penalised. Whincup’s experience kept him cool and steady throughout. He won the race but had only beaten McLaughlin by 21 points.

In 2018 he won his first championship. 2019 he took his 2nd championship as well as his first Bathurst 1000 trophy.

2020 he again dominated the series and took his 3rd championship. Driving a Mustang, he earned 15 Pole positions out of 27 races. He had 21 Podium finishes. 13 of them were wins. Now that is crazy!

Now he has moved to the U.S. to compete in the 2021 Indycars series as a full time driver for Team Penske. The contract has him locked in for 1 ½  years.

He has achieved so much and is still only 27 years old!!!!

From me and I am sure a great many others, we wish you the best of luck for the future Scott McLaughlin. You will be missed by everyone in the Supercars community.

Below I have some further stats on Scott McLaughlin’s career and other drivers he has been associated with.

His co-drivers were:

  • 2013 Jack Perkins car 33.
  • 2014 – 2015 Alex Premat, car 33.
  • 2016 David Wall, car 33.
  • 2017 – 2019 Alex Premat, car 17.
  • 2020 Tim Slade, car 17.

Scott McLaughlin has been in the Supercars for 9 years:

  • Had 252 races
  • Won 56
  • 76 poles
  • Driven 14,230 laps
  • And was leading for 2,362 laps

Supercars in Australia for season 2021.

Post Race Report, V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars 2018 Adeleaide 500

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Hi to all you V8 Supercars fans around world!

Welcome to the V8 Supercars Championship season for 2018.

The new season finds V8 Supercars with a new CEO, Sean Seamer. He takes over from James Warburton who left the position last year.

The Adelaide 500 is the first official race of the season and was run on the weekend of the 1st to the 4th of March 2018.

In Qualifying on the Friday both Cameron Waters and Jamie Whincup hit the wall at turn 8 which forced both the Monster Energy Racing Team and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team to do all-nighters on repairs. The Red Bull team didn’t finish Jamie Whincup’s car until 4:15AM.

Regardless of this incident Jamie Whincup was still the fastest in Practice 1 and made the top 10 shootout, starting the first race in 5th position.

In race 1 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position and alongside him was Scott McLaughlin.

At the start of the 78-lap race, Rick Kelly hit the wall coming out of turn 3 causing him to limp back to the pits for repairs.

After Rick Kelly got back to the pits he was interviewed by Greg Murphy about the damage his Nissan Altima received. He told Greg Murphy that it was due to a bent steering arm but it soon became clear that with the resulting damage he wouldn’t be going back out onto the track very soon. It was very unfortunate and cost him a lot of time. He had started from 7th position on the grid but finished 23rd only ahead of the NCs (not completes).

There are 5 full time Rookies in field this year:

  • Jack Le Brocq Holden car 19
  • James Golding Holden car 34
  • Richie Stanaway Ford car 56
  • Anton De Pasquale Holden car 99
  • Andre Heimgartner Nissan car 7

During the opening stages the rookies didn’t know what was to come given that it was their first race in the main game. All up I think they did a great job.

Chaz Mostert raced very well considering he didn’t make the top ten shootout in Qualifying due to a red flag. I am sure he wouldn’t have been happy with that but was making up for it during this race.

Richie Stanaway and James Golding made contact with the wall. Richie Stanaway was in a really awkward position and had to use reverse gear to try and get out of the tyre stack. As one of the rookies he proved his worth and persisted. Unfortunately a car issue caused a DNF only one lap short of completing the race. He must have been really disappointed.

In the middle of the race Craig Lowndes was running strong under his new team, Autobarn Lowndes Racing before he got a shoved up the rear by Garth Tander. He slid sideways but managed to keep on track. It was a tense moment for sure.

Towards the end of race 1 no one else could catch the top 3 drivers which were Shane Van Gisbergen, James Courtney and Scott McLaughlin.

 

 

Shane Van Gisbergen made it look too easy as he confidently held his position 1 right to the end.

Results for race 1

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd James Courtney – Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing
3rd Scott Mclaughlin – Shell V Power Racing Team

In race 2 Shane Van Gisbergen started on pole position again and alongside him was his teammate Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the 78 lap 250 kilometre race Jamie Whincup got the jump off the front row on the grid. Shane Van Gisbergen was happy to see his teammate lead the race into the first chicane.

On lap 2 the drivers settled into their race pace and the pack started chasing the two Red Bull leaders trying to close the 2.6 second lead they had.

After the first round of stops the race lead went back to car 1, Jamie Whincup.

As the opening laps were complete it appeared Shane Van Gisbergen didn’t have the pace he normally delivered. When interviewed later he stated there were car setup dramas affecting speed and in good sportsmanship said it was teammate, Jamie Whincup’s race.

Jamie Whincup was flying which was good to see. I thought he had it in the bag and was surely going to win.

Later David Reynolds was in a good spot and racing hard, then nearly hit the wall at turn 8. Luckily he didn’t.

No one else could catch the race leaders at this point of the race.

With 30 laps to go Jamie Whincup was still out front and cruising but then his gearbox failed and he started to slow and had to pull in to the pits. When Jamie got out of car he was gutted when David Cauchi took his head set off. He knew what it meant. The last time Jamie had a DNF was in the 2013 Gold Coast 600. His 136 race finishing streak was broken on Sunday.

Towards the end of the race Shane Van Gisbergen still had the lead. David Reynolds tried to pressure him into an error but it didn’t work.

So once again for the second time on the weekend, Shane Van Gisbergen took 1st place. What an amazing result for him and the Red Bull team.

Results for race 2

1st Shane Van Gisbergen – Red Bull Holden Racing Team
2nd David Reynolds – Erebus Motorsport
3rd Garth Tander – Garry Rogers Motorsport

The next event is the Coates Hire Supercars Melbourne 400.

 

 

There are 5 Rookies in field this year are

Jack Le Brocq Holden Car 19.

James Golding Holden car 34.

Richie Stanaway Ford car 56.

Anton De Pasquale Holden car 99.

Andre Heimgartner Nissan car 7