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.