» V8s: Youngest-ever winner and a home crowd!

Scott McLaughlin has broken records today with his first ever V8 Supercars win at the ITM 400 Auckland in front of a home crowd at Race 6 on the Pukekohe circuit. The youngest driver on the grid not only won his first race but broke Todd Kelly’s record of being the youngest ever winner at the age of 19 (Kelly was 20).

The Kiwi teenager capitalised on Championship leaders Jamie Whincup and Winterbottom’s misfortunes early on in the piece and drove smoothly into the lead on the twelfth lap. Whincup suffered a shredded tyre on the first lap (as well as a penalty due to speeding in the pit lane en route to finish 26th), while Winterbottom went on to have tyre problems of his own, with his left rear failing.

Behind the fast lad was Jason Bright, followed by Craig Lowndes who was in much better form than last week. In fourth came Shane van Gisbergen, then Fabian Coulthard, Garth Tander, Will Davison, David Reynolds, James Courtney and Jonathon Webb.

"It was the coolest feeling of my life," McLaughlin said after the race.

"I felt the whole pressure of New Zealand on me as well. It was so hard and it was awesome.

"This is so big for myself, my family and my [Garry Rogers Motorsport] team. They all deserve it so much.

"For me to be in the history books in this category is unbelievable."

McLaughlin is now fourth in the Championship, not bad for a driver who is in his first season at the V8’s! This was only his ninth start so the future looks bright for the Commodore driver.

“We have three races to go and I reckon we have a great chance of getting our hands on that Jason Richards trophy.” McLaughlin said, and things are looking pretty positive for the young Kiwi! Let’s see how he goes tomorrow…

2013 V8 Supercars ITM 400 Auckland – Race 1 Final Classification (35 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	39:54.9225
2.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 0.8209
3.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 1.3120
4.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 2.4629
5.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 3.2877
6.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 4.7988
7.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 5.0299
8.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 6.4085
9.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 7.7415
10.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 11.2199
11.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 11.5876
12.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 12.6343
13.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 13.1648
14.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 13.7618
15.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 15.7367
16.	Tony D’Alberto	HIFLEX Racing / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 16.0910
17.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 16.7292
18.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 17.4862
19.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 17.8470
20.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 20.2838
21.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 20.7693
22.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 21.7277
23.	Jonny Reid	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 23.1456
24.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 23.8135
25.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 24.2392
26.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 1 lap
	Not Classified
DNF.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	19 laps