The Bend Supercars: McLaughlin cruises to Race 3 win

The Penske Ford driver was untroubled across the 24-lap journey, helped by having teammate Fabian Coulthard slot into second at the start.

From there the Shell Mustangs were able to control the race, McLaughlin running two even 12-lap stints in what ended up as a 1.8s win in a Penske one-two.

"The car is fantastic to drive, a pleasure to drive," said the Kiwi. 

"I think track positioned helped, being in front. It was important I got the start, and thankfully I did."

Jamie Whincup limited the damage to his title hopes with third place, his only appearance on the podium for the weekend.

It didn't come easy, though, Whincup needing to overhaul a rapid Anton De Pasquale – who started all the way down in 18th – in the second stint.

He needed two cracks at clearing the Erebus Holden, the first resulting in contact between the pair at Turn 6. Whincup redressed the position before getting the job done two laps from home.

McLaughlin's win, however, meant Whincup dropped points in all three races, the gap now 215 with four races, worth a total of 600 points, to go.

Shane van Gisbergen had a shocker in the final heat, the Race 2 winner sparking an early pile-up when he tipped Andre Heimgartner into a spin.

That led to heavy contact for the likes of James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom, those two drivers taken out of the race.

Van Gisbergen was hit with a 15-second time penalty for his efforts, 14th the best he could manage by the finish.

Heimgartner, meanwhile, recovered well from the van Gisbergen hiccup, charging back to seventh behind De Pasquale, Cam Waters and Scott Pye.

Race 3 results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT
2	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	1.865
3	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	5.757
4	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	8.601
5	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	11.032
6	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	11.371
7	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	17.680
8	15	Rick Kelly	Ford Mustang GT	18.226
9	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	18.814
10	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	19.200
11	5	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	25.724
12	3	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	26.558
13	35	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	26.981
14	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	27.027
15	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	29.804
16	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	34.923
17	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	35.517
18	19	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore ZB	37.617
19	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	38.063
20	34	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	51.401
21	55	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	54.721
22	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1 Lap
	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	23 Laps
	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	23 Laps
View full results