Supercars championship leader Scott McLaughlin has gotten behind the wheel of his newly-built Ford Mustang ahead of Sunday’s Sandown 500.
The DJR Team Penske star will race a completely new car at the Melbourne event after wrecking his old Mustang in a scary crash at Surfers Paradise last month.
While McLaughlin walked away unharmed from the crash at the Gold Coast 600, his team was forced to build a new No.17 racer for the Sandown event.
The New Zealander put the new car through its paces on Monday, completing a 60km shakedown at Queensland Raceway.
The vehicle will now be transported to Victoria for the Sandown event, where McLaughlin can claim back-to-back titles.
Despite his Sunday mishap at Surfers, McLaughlin still holds a mammoth 463-point lead over nearest rival Shane Van Gisbergen.
That means he will be crowned champion if he leaves Sandown with a margin greater than 300 points over his fellow Kiwi.
The Sandown 500 begins on Friday with practice, before qualifying on Saturday and the 500km endurance race on Sunday.
http://www.espn.com/v8-supercars/story/_/id/28003901/mclaughlin-tests-new-mustang-pre-sandown
