Scott McLaughlin has claimed a clean sweep of the Supercars Championship’s second leg of the Darwin double-header by winning the third and final race of the weekend at Hidden Valley Raceway.
After being outqualified by long-time rival Shane van Gisbergen, McLaughlin once again took advantage of starting on the cleaner side of the track to outdrag van Gisbergen down to the first corner. The Red Bull Holden Racing driver had a poor launch, falling to third behind the Brad Jones Racing Holden of Nick Percat.
Once in front, the DJR Team Penske driver never looked back. He made his compulsory pit stop early on, cruising to victory by a hefty 13.8 seconds to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings to 177 points over van Gisbergen’s teammate Jamie Whincup who could only finish in seventh.
While McLaughlin had an ultimately lonely race at the front, the fight for the remaining podium positions was intense.
Percat held second place ahead of van Gisbergen before his pit stop, and after his tyre change Scott Pye’s Team 18 Holden joined the fray.
Pye’s teammate Mark Winterbottom ran an alternate strategy by making his pit stop late in the race. His fresher rubber gave him a huge pace advantage late in the race, allowing him to overtake Chaz Mostert and then van Gisbergen – with a bit of a bump on the latter that avoided any sanction from the stewards – to claim fourth place behind Pye who claimed back-to-back podium finishes.
| 2020 Australian Supercars Championship Darwin Triple SuperSprint – Race 18 Final Classification (38 laps) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team | Result | ||
| 1. | Scott McLaughlin |  |
Shell V-Power Racing Team |  |
44:06.290 |
| 2. | Nick Percat |  |
R&J Batteries |  |
+ 13.835 |
| 3. | Scott Pye |  |
DEWALT Racing | |
+ 14.817 |
| 4. | Mark Winterbottom | |
IRWIN Racing | |
+ 16.423 |
| 5. | Shane van Gisbergen |  |
Red Bull Holden Racing Team | |
+ 18.367 |
| 6. | Chaz Mostert |  |
Mobil 1 TM Appliances | |
+ 19.622 |
| 7. | Jamie Whincup | |
Red Bull Holden Racing Team | |
+ 19.966 |
| 8. | Andre Heimgartner |  |
NED Whisky Racing | |
+ 20.299 |
| 9. | Anton de Pasquale |  |
Penrite Racing | |
+ 20.847 |
| 10. | David Reynolds | |
Penrite Racing | |
+ 24.888 |
| 11. | Fabian Coulthard | |
Shell V-Power Racing Team | |
+ 27.703 |
| 12. | Lee Holdsworth |  |
Truck Assist Racing | |
+ 28.070 |
| 13. | Jack Le Brocq | |
Supercheap Auto Racing | |
+ 28.459 |
| 14. | James Courtney | |
Boost Mobile Racing | |
+ 30.013 |
| 15. | Todd Hazelwood | |
Brut Military Grade | |
+ 33.845 |
| 16. | Garry Jacobson |  |
Yellow Cover Racing | |
+ 34.552 |
| 17. | Bryce Fullwood | |
Mobil 1 TM Middy’s Racing | |
+ 36.054 |
| 18. | Macauley Jones |  |
Team CoolDrive | |
+ 39.415 |
| 19. | Chris Pither |  |
Team SYDNEY | |
+ 43.344 |
| 20. | Alex Davison | |
Local Legends Racing | |
+ 44.253 |
| 21. | Zane Goddard | |
UNIT Racing | |
+ 45.163 |
| 22. | Rick Kelly | |
Castrol Racing | |
+ 52.838 |
| 23. | Jack Smith | |
SCT Motor Sports | |
+ 54.164 |
| Not Classified | Team | Result | |||
| DNF. | Cameron Waters | |
Monster Energy Racing | |
+ 21.390 |
Post-Race Penalties:
- Fabian Coulthard was issued a 5-second time penalty for a driving standards infringement.
Image via Motorsport.com
Geoff Burke
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