PHILLIP ISLAND, Victoria, Australia — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Daniel Kalisz/Getty Images AsiaPac photo —
Scott McLaughlin may be a sophomore V8 Supercars driver, but he has the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit figured out.
McLaughlin started his day by scoring the pole position at Phillip Island and ended it by holding off Craig Lowndes, the winningest driver in track history, for his first career victory at the Victoria road course and his third V8SC win of the 2014 season during Race 33 of the International V8 Supercars Championship.
The victory was the 21-year-old Kiwi’s fifth career V8SC triumph and it came in a race that went green-to-checkered without a caution. McLaughlin jumped to the lead in the opening corner and never looked back en route to the winner’s hardware.
“I’m pretty screwed – I’m stuffed,” said McLaughlin. “That was awesome fun and it was a great battle with Lowndesy. Even in my second year I never thought I would be this successful. You know I have got a long way to go to be like this bloke next to me (Lowndes), but I’m enjoying the ride.”
Lowndes finished second after throwing everything he had at the Valvoline-sponsored No. 33 Volvo in the final laps, coming up just a couple of car lengths short at the checkered flag in his bid to score a tenth Phillip Island race win and break a tie with Mark Skaife for most at the high-speed circuit.
“Scotty’s driving well, the car’s obviously good,” Lowndes said. “(Teammate) Jamie (Whincup) coming in third was great for us having a 2-3 for the race.”
Whincup came home third in a race that had massive championship implications.
After Fabian Coulthard and Shane van Gisbergen collided in qualifying, relegating both drivers to the rear, and then Mark Winterbottom went through the gravel trying to pass Whincup for third on lap four, Race 33 saw three of the top five drivers in championship points finish 16th or worse, with Winterbottom and van Gisbergen bringing up the rear in 24th and 25th and losing massive ground in the championship.
Van Gisbergen’s race went from bad to worse when he turned both James Moffat and Dale Wood in the closing stages of the 100 km event. No actionw as taken by the race stewards for the first contact, but SvG was penalized for the second collision with a drive-through, which put him to the rear in the final rundown and dropped him from third to fourth in the championship standings.
Whincup, coupled with Winterbottom’s struggles, was able to extend his championship lead out to 450 points. If Whincup can maintain that margin through the end of Race 34, or win the race, he will officially clinch his record sixth V8 Supercars championship.
“That was a tough battle out there,” said Whincup. “The boys were putting out a serious pace and I was just trying to hang on really. The tire life was not the best. Garth had serious pace at the end. If we don’t do something he’ll run over the top of us in the next one.”
“The pace out there was crazy so I was happy to hang on really.”
Garth Tander came on strong late but was unable to supplant Whincup and finished fourth, and Michael Caruso finished fifth in his Nissan Altima.
Jason Bright, David Reynolds, Todd Kelly, Scott Pye and Rick Kelly completed the top 10 and capped a banner day for Nissan Motorsport, with three of their four cars finishing in the top ten.
Race 34, the second 100 km race in the Plus Fitness Phillip Island 400, gets the green lights at 4:35 p.m. local time.
