Pukekohe Supercars: McLaughlin wins, team orders at Triple Eight

The Penske driver emerged in the lead after the second round of stops in the 200-kayer, controlling the final stint to take a well-crafted win over the two Red Bull Holdens.

It means he takes out the Jason Richards Trophy for the first time.

“To win in front of my home crowd, I’ve not won here since 2013, my first win... thank you, it means so much," he said. "It’s unreal.

“That’s pretty awesome [to win the Jason Richards Trophy]. For a Kiwi to win it again is very special.”

While the final gap was 12s, it would have been much closer had it not been for some late team orders from Triple Eight.

With Shane van Gisbergen recovering from a pitstop blunder early in the race, the team ordered Whincup – McLaughlin's chief rival all afternoon – to slow down and hand second place over to title contender van Gisbergen.

McLaughlin and van Gisbergen are now split by 14 points heading to the season finale in Newcastle later this month.

Polesitter Whincup led the very early stages of the race, before being dragged in for his first stop on Lap 5.

That left McLaughlin out front, the Penske driver holding a 2s advantage over van Gisbergen until he pitted on Lap 13.

Van Gisbergen followed suit two laps later, however his stop was compromised by a safety stand being left under the car following a ride height change. It meant the car had to be lifted back up by the air jacks so the stand could be retrieved, the additional time meaning he dropped from second to eighth.

With an undercut from his early stop, Whincup found himself with a 4s lead at the start of the second stint. He was able to sustain it, too, McLaughlin failing to make any real headway.

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, got back to sixth on the road before the second round of stops started, with a 20-odd second deficit to his teammate out front.

On Lap 34 Whincup made his second stop, McLaughlin doing likewise four laps later. That led to briefly fierce battle for the effective lead, McLaughlin emerging from his stop right ahead of Whincup.

Having held off the Triple Eight Holden until his tyres came up to temperature, McLaughlin settled into a lead of just over a second for the run to the flag.

Van Gisbergen went deep into his second stint, not making another stop until Lap 47. He popped back out in fifth, just in front of Chaz Mostert and with a 4s gap to Craig Lowndes in front of him.

It took 10 laps for van Gisbergen to catch and easily pass his T8 teammate, before closing right up on the back of David Reynolds in third. On Lap 60 he then completed the comeback to the podium, passing the Erebus Holden to move into third.

That left van Gisbergen 11s behind Whincup, who was still just 1s behind leader McLaughlin. That left Triple Eight with two options – let Whincup try and pass McLaughlin to limit the points gain over van Gisbergen, or back the #1 car off and hand second – and the nine points – over to the #97.

With a change in the lead potentially yielding a three-point advantage for van Gisbergen, T8 initially let Whincup carry on. He got within half a second in what was a thrilling conclusion to the race, but couldn't quite get the job done.

As a result, he was told to slow down on the final lap to let van Gisbergen through to second place.

"I thought we had him, four seconds up the road and I think we only had one second less of fuel, but they jumped us in the stop," said Whincup.

“I did everything I could, but happy to have a double podium [for the team] today.”

Lowndes made it a T8 two-three-four, with Reynolds dropping back to fifth.

Mostert and Fabian Coulthard finished sixth and seventh, while Andre Heimgartner led Nissan's charge in eighth.

Mark Winterbottom was the first Tickford Ford home in ninth, with Nick Percat rounding out the Top 10 after a spirited battle with Cam Waters that included contact through the fast complex onto the main straight midway through the race.

Results:

Pos	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Falcon FG X
2	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	12.0654
3	1	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	12.4554
4	888	Craig Lowndes	Holden Commodore ZB	13.4968
5	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	16.3188
6	55	Chaz Mostert	Ford Falcon FG X	19.9547
7	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Falcon FG X	20.4604
8	7	Andre Heimgartner	Nissan Altima	33.2876
9	5	Mark Winterbottom	Ford Falcon FG X	33.9245
10	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	36.5589
11	14	Tim Slade	Holden Commodore ZB	39.2775
12	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Falcon FG X	48.1618
13	33	Garth Tander	Holden Commodore ZB	48.9623
14	18	Lee Holdsworth	Holden Commodore ZB	49.4329
15	2	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	51.0129
16	25	James Courtney	Holden Commodore ZB	52.7145
17	23	Michael Caruso	Nissan Altima	53.2721
18	78	Simona de Silvestro	Nissan Altima	56.6544
19	230	Will Davison	Ford Falcon FG X	57.2896
20	56	Richie Stanaway	Ford Falcon FG X	59.8774
21	34	James Golding	Holden Commodore ZB	1'00.2811
22	15	Rick Kelly	Nissan Altima	1 lap
23	19	Jack Le Brocq	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
24	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
25	35	Todd Hazelwood	Ford Falcon FG X	1 lap
26	21	Tim Blanchard	Holden Commodore ZB	10 laps