» Supercars: McLaughlin back on top in the Top End

Scott McLaughlin claimed his fifth win of the 2020 Supercars Championship season in the second race of the Darwin Triple Crown round, extending his points lead over Jamie Whincup who finished in second place.

McLaughlin claimed his second pole position of the weekend in qualifying ahead of DJR Team Penske teammate Fabian Coulthard, but found himself jumped off the line by his New Zealand compatriot at the start.

Coulthard was able to pull out a lead of more than a second to McLaughlin before making his compulsory pit stop. McLaughlin pitted a lap later, with a superb in-lap proving the difference in allowing him to emerge from pit lane in front.

Coulthard steamed up behind McLaughlin on the approach to Turn 1 in the hope that his warmer tyres would allow him to quickly reclaim the effective race lead, only to lock up on approach to the left-hander and slide wide onto the grass run-off.

That allowed Whincup’s Red Bull Holden to sneak through, and from there the top-three ran to the flag with McLaughlin crossing the line 1.4 seconds clear.

His win atoned for a difficult Saturday race, which saw him demoted to a 20th-place finish after copping a time penalty for a restart infringement.

Behind the top three, the fight for fourth place was much closer, with Whincup’s teammate Shane van Gisbergen narrowly holding a hard-charging David Reynolds. The Erebus Holden driver ran a contra-strategy by opting for a long opening stint before eventually making his pit stop with ten laps to go.

He emerged from his stop in sixth place behind Nick Percat, quickly clearing the BJR Holden driver before giving chase to van Gisbergen.

Saturday race winner Anton De Pasquale finished in seventh behind Percat, with Chaz Mostert (WAU Holden), Cameron Waters (Tickford Racing Ford) and Andre Heimgartner (Kelly Racing Ford) completing the top ten.

The third and final race of the Darwin Triple Crown takes place at 15:30 local time.

2020 Australian Supercars Championship Darwin Triple Crown – Race 14 Final Classification (38 laps)
Pos	Driver	Team	Result
1.	Scott McLaughlin	Shell V-Power Racing Team	43:59.037
2.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	+ 1.408
3.	Fabian Coulthard	Shell V-Power Racing Team	+ 7.208
4.	Shane van Gisbergen	Red Bull Holden Racing Team	+ 12.440
5.	David Reynolds	Penrite Racing	+ 13.293
6.	Nick Percat	R&J Batteries	+ 17.179
7.	Anton de Pasquale	Penrite Racing	+ 17.535
8.	Chaz Mostert	Mobil 1 TM Appliances	+ 18.011
9.	Cameron Waters	Monster Energy Racing	+ 18.619
10.	Andre Heimgartner	NED Whisky Racing	+ 19.027
11.	Mark Winterbottom	IRWIN Racing	+ 19.901
12.	James Courtney	Boost Mobile Racing	+ 22.610
13.	Rick Kelly	Castrol Racing	+ 23.151
14.	Lee Holdsworth	Truck Assist Racing	+ 23.601
15.	Jack Le Brocq	Supercheap Auto Racing	+ 24.140
16.	Scott Pye	DEWALT Racing	+ 24.703
17.	Alex Davison	Local Legends Racing	+ 29.744
18.	Bryce Fullwood	Mobil 1 TM Middy’s Racing	+ 34.882
19.	Garry Jacobson	Yellow Cover Racing	1 lap behind
20.	Todd Hazelwood	Brut Military Grade	1 lap behind
21.	Chris Pither	Team SYDNEY	1 lap behind
22.	Jake Kostecki	UNIT Racing	1 lap behind
23.	Macauley Jones	Team CoolDrive	1 lap behind
24.	Jack Smith	SCT Motor Sports	1 lap behind