Albert Park Supercars: McLaughlin wins crash-affected race

McLaughlin started second behind teammate Fabian Coulthard, but managed to get ahead of his fellow Kiwi at Turn 4 on Lap 1 when Coulthard ran wide.

That didn’t give McLaughlin the lead, though, with Jamie Whincup jumping to the front as McLaughlin slowed to avoid Coulthard.

Whincup couldn’t stay in front for long, McLaughlin climbing all over the back of Whincup throughout the first lap before barging past early in the second. Coulthard, who recovered by shortcutting the track after running off on the first lap, followed McLaughlin through.

Once in front the two Penske Fords were unstoppable, pulling away from the field while running nose-to-tail, McLaughlin leading Coulthard. The job was then made easier when the Safety Car came out with two laps to go, the race finishing under caution.

The win wasn’t only McLaughlin’s first in DJR Team Penske, but the team’s first since being taken over by Penske two years ago.

Chaz Mostert finished third for Prodrive, having followed McLaughin and Coulthard past Whincup on Lap 2, while the #88 Triple Eight Holden finished fourth.

Michael Caruso was fifth in the Nissan, having inherited the spot when Tim Slade’s Brad Jones Racing Holden suffered a rear puncture a couple of laps from the end.

That wasn’t BJR’s biggest issue, though. Nick Percat arrived at Turn 1 on Lap 10 to find he had no front brakes, avoiding the gaggle of cars behind him by taking to the infield but then smashing into an unsuspecting Lee Holdsworth who was exiting the second part of the first corner.

Percat managed to extract himself from the wrecked Commodore unaided, but looked winded by the impact. Holdsworth also looked to have avoided any serious injury from the contact.

Behind the Top 5, series points leader Shane van Gisbergen had a pretty quiet run on his way to sixth, while James Moffat came all the way back from 14th on the grid to finish seventh in the GRM Holden. Mark Winterbottom was next in the Prodrive Ford, with Holden drivers David Reynolds and James Courtney rounding out the Top 10.

Simona de Silvestro took the best result of her short Supercars career, finishing 13th in the Nissan.

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG-X	27'13.5518
2	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG-X	27'13.9109	0.3591
3	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG-X	27'14.9940	1.4422
4	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore VF	27'15.8267	2.2749
5	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	27'16.0497	2.4979
6	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore VF	27'18.4795	4.9277
7	34	James Moffat	Holden Commodore VF	27'18.6835	5.1317
8	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG-X	27'19.7334	6.1816
9	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore VF	27'20.6274	7.0756
10	22	James Courtney	Holden Commodore VF	27'21.0707	7.5189
11	19	Will Davison	Holden Commodore VF	27'21.7391	8.1873
12	7	Todd Kelly	Nissan Altima	27'22.6240	9.0722
13	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	27'23.9523	10.4005
14	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore VF	27'24.8860	11.3342
15	99	Dale Wood	Holden Commodore VF	27'25.7138	12.1620
16	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore VF	27'26.9844	13.4326
17	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore VF	27'27.8061	14.2543
18	3	Taz Douglas	Holden Commodore VF	27'28.4208	14.8690
19	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG-X	27'29.0468	15.4950
20	62	Alex Rullo	Holden Commodore VF	27'30.6093	17.0575
21	56	Jason Bright	Ford Falcon FG-X	27'31.9342	18.3824
DNF	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	21'57.5995	2 laps
DNF	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore VF	22'05.5295	2 laps
DNF	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore VF	22'06.6069	2 laps
DNF	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore VF	17'48.5688	4 laps
DNF	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore VF	22'32.9829	10 laps