Defending series champion Scott McLaughlin has continued his dominance by claiming pole position for the second race of the Supercars opening round in Adelaide.
Backing up from Saturday’s win in his new Mustang, McLaughlin clocked 1min 19.66 secs to be fastest in the top 10 shootout.
He was 0.26sec ahead of Holden’s Shane van Gisbergen to claim the first pole of his career at Adelaide and start from P1 for Sunday’s 250km race, which starts at 1550 AEDT.
McLaughlin’s Ford teammate Fabian Coulthard was third fastest but is under investigation by stewards for a « team procedure » after his DJR Team Penske outfit was seen working under the Mustang’s bonnet just moments before his flying lap.
Ford’s Chaz Mostert was second fastest going into the shootout, which determined the grid’s first five rows, but was pinged for curb hopping and relegated to 10th for race two of the weekend.
McLaughlin made a perfect start to his title defence by claiming line honours in the opening 78-lap race by 13 seconds from Holden great Jamie Whincup.
It also provided an ideal return for the Mustang, which replaced Falcons in all six Ford cars this season after last being sighted in 1990.
McLaughlin’s triumph marked Mustang’s first touring car win since 1972.
The New Zealander will hope to celebrate his 200th career race by going back to back in Adelaide.
Five of Ford’s six cars were in the top 10.
Van Gisbergen will look to make up for Saturday when he finished third, snapping his run of four-straight wins in Adelaide.
But his teammate, seven-time series champion Whincup, surprisingly missed out on Sunday’s shootout when he only managed the 12th fastest lap.
Series rookie Macauley Jones remarkably returned to the track and will start at 21st on the 24-strong grid after his Holden was repaired overnight following a nasty practice crash on Saturday.
Former series champion Mark Winterbottom will start race two at the back of the grid after his Holden spent most of Sunday’s qualifying session in the garage with power steering issues.
Winterbottom – marking his first event with Holden after 13 seasons with Ford – finished ninth in Saturday’s race.
http://www.espn.com/v8-supercars/story/_/id/26124075/ford-mclaughlin-claims-supercars-pole
