Ford’s Scott McLaughlin has proved untouchable in his Falcon at the Phillip Island 500, with the Shell V-Power ace claiming a rare Supercars double.
The New Zealand driver on Sunday backed up his victory in race one a day earlier by taking out the second 250km event.
The 24-year-old started from pole in both events and again proved too strong in the 10th race of the season to shoot ahead in the championship standings.
Veteran Nissan driver Rick Kelly looked to be a chance of edging McLaughlin for the first half of the 57-lap race but slipped up in his second pit stop.
It was left to Erebus Motorsport’s David Reynolds, in his ZB Commodore, to put pressure on McLaughlin and he briefly held the lead.
But McLaughlin snatched back the advantage on lap 31 by overtaking Reynolds in almost identical fashion to his race-winning move against Red Bull Holden rival Jamie Whincup on Saturday.
He was comfortable from there as Reynolds and Kelly joined the Kiwi gun on the podium.
In the post-race media conference, Reynolds joked about McLaughlin’s infamous tyre troubles at the previous Phillip Island 500, where he was unable to convert two poles into any victories.
« I was hoping he was going to blow tyres like he did last year, » Reynolds said.
It was McLaughlin’s sixth victory at the Victorian circuit, taking him to fourth on the all-time list at the venue behind Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife and Glenn Seton.
His repeat success comes two years after he claimed both races at Phillip Island, taking his consecutive poles at the track to an extraordinary six.
McLaughlin’s terrific results, combined with a costly error from Whincup on Saturday, have shot him into a 48-point lead on Reynolds after the fourth event of the year.
He described it as the « perfect weekend ».
« It’s a bit of a relief in some ways and it’s just nice to convert in a good car, » McLaughlin said.
« Last year we had a good car but we lacked strategy and I lacked my starts.
« There with Davey (Reynolds) at the end was a good battle, like (Saturday with Whincup) and we’ll build from this. »
Mobil 1 Boost Mobile’s James Courtney was the only driver not to finish, bombing out on lap five.
Rounding out the top-five was McLaughlin’s Shell V-Power teammate Fabian Coulthard and Nissan’s Michael Caruso, while Whincup finished a disappointing ninth.
http://www.espn.com/v8-supercars/story/_/id/23282444/mclaughlin-takes-supercars-island-double
