» Supercars: McLaughlin extends points lead with victory

Defending Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin has extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings with victory in this weekend’s third and final race at Sydney Motorsport Park.

The DJR Team Penske driver was able to fend off a threat from the Tickford Racing Ford of Lee Holdsworth, with the Ford drivers separated by just 1.5 seconds at the flag.

McLaughlin converted his pole position into an early lead, easing away from Jamie Whincup’s Red Bull Holden in the opening laps to pull out a five-second margin before the latter made his compulsory pit stop on Lap 13.

While Whincup opted to change just two tyres, McLaughlin pitted a lap later and opted to change all four tyres for the run home. The faster pit stop by the Red Bull crew allowed Whincup to cut McLaughlin’s theoretical race lead down to just one second, but the DJR Team Penske driver was always going to benefit from superior tyre grip and quickly pulled away.

Holdsworth, meanwhile, ran an alternate strategy and pitted much later in the race. Having saved fresh tyres for the final race, he was able to carve his way up the order after making his pit stop. He ran out of laps to get a chance at challenging McLaughlin.

Whincup faded to finish a distant third, but had more than ten seconds to fourth-placed David Reynolds.

The Erebus Holden driver led a gaggle of cars across the finish line, narrowly holding off Mark Winterbottom’s CS Racing Holden and Whincup’s teammate Shane van Gisbergen, who struggled for pace. Reynolds’ teammate Anton De Pasquale the Brad Jones Racing Holdens of Todd Hazelwood Nick Percat were also in hot pursuit, while the WAU Holden of rookie Bryce Fullwood rounded out the top ten.

It was a bad day for McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard, who ran unconvincingly in the midfield before his Ford ground to a halt on the final lap of the race.

McLaughlin heads into the next round of the season, the Winton SuperSprint on 18-19 July, with a 49-point lead to Whincup.

2020 Australian Supercars Championship Sydney SuperSprint – Race 9 Final Classification (32 laps)
Pos	Driver	Team	Result
1.	Scott McLaughlin	Shell V-Power Racing Team	50:20.268
2.	Lee Holdsworth	Truck Assist Racing	+ 1.519
3.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	+ 11.250
4.	David Reynolds	Penrite Racing	+ 24.428
5.	Mark Winterbottom	IRWIN Racing	+ 25.647
6.	Shane van Gisbergen	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	+ 26.517
7.	Anton de Pasquale	Penrite Racing	+ 26.949
8.	Todd Hazelwood	Brut Military Grade	+ 27.128
9.	Nick Percat	Dunlop Super Dealer Racing	+ 27.997
10.	Bryce Fullwood	Mobil 1 TM Middy’s Racing	+ 28.748
11.	Jack Le Brocq	Supercheap Auto Racing	+ 31.858
12.	Scott Pye	DEWALT Racing	+ 35.647
13.	Cameron Waters	Monster Energy Racing	+ 36.859
14.	James Courtney	Boost Mobile Racing	+ 37.461
15.	Andre Heimgartner	NED Whisky Racing	+ 40.662
16.	Chaz Mostert	Mobil 1 TM Appliances	+ 43.754
17.	Rick Kelly	Castrol Racing	+ 46.657
18.	Jack Smith	SCT Motor Sports	+ 47.015
19.	Garry Jacobson	Yellow Cover Racing	+ 48.062
20.	Macauley Jones	Team CoolDrive	+ 49.399
21.	Alex Davison	Local Legends Racing	+ 49.829
22.	Jake Kostecki	UNIT Racing	+ 50.596
23.	Chris Pither	Team SYDNEY	+ 1:17.382
	Not Classified	Team	Reason
DNF.	Fabian Coulthard	Shell V-Power Racing Team	Mechanical