Sydney Supercars: McLaughlin triumphs under lights

The DJR Team Penske driver started from pole, but a decision to burn a set of hard compound Dunlops in the first stint meant he was never going to spend long out front.

After being out-braked by a softs-shod Shane van Gisbergen into Turn 2 McLaughlin dropped all the way back to sixth during his short first stint.

He stopped to switch to softs on Lap 10, emerging more than 50 seconds behind leader van Gisbergen. 

More importantly, however, he ended up in front of both Anton De Pasquale and Lee Holdsworth as the stops shook out, two drivers that gambled on a double-softs strategy in search of glory under lights.

Holdsworth's Lap 15 stop turned out to the the flashpoint of the race. He came out right in front of both McLaughlin and De Pasquale, but couldn't hold them off as he waited for his tyre temperatures to come up on his out lap.

The Tickford driver was able to swiftly get by De Pasquale and close in on McLaughlin, but the toll on the tyre life meant he couldn't mount a meaningful challenge for the effective lead.

When van Gisbergen ran too long on his softs and lost too much time changing to hards during his Lap 20 stop, McLaughlin was able to charge to victory – with a set of softs still up his sleeve for tomorrow.

"I'm really thankful I got a good start," said McLaughlin. "I was able to position a bit better. I knew [the cars on softs] were going to come at me hard. 

"And then I managed to stay with them closer than I thought. The car was so good on both compounds. 

"We stuck to our guns. We knew people were probably going to try [the softs-softs] strategy, but we trusted our car speed. I'm really proud."

Holdsworth finished second, 1.3s behind the winner, with De Pasquale just under five seconds behind the winner in third.

However both burned through both their sets of softs and now face a long two races tomorrow.

Van Gisbergen recovered to fourth after his strategic misstep, with teammate Whincup less than a second behind him, both with softs left for tomorrow.

Cam Waters finished sixth after going from softs to hards, while Fabian Coulthard was the best of the drivers that didn't use softs in the race at all in seventh.

Macauley Jones finished a solo career best eighth after going through both sets of soft tyres, followed by Brad Jones Racing teammate Nick Percat and Team 18's Mark Winterbottom.

McLaughlin's series lead is now out to 75 points over Whincup, with Chaz Mostert 194 points – almost two thirds of a round's worth – behind in third.

The result also leaves McLaughlin just one victory short of equalling the great Peter Brock on career ATCC/Supercars race wins.

Sydney Supersprint - Night race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT
2	5	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	1.315
3	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	4.727
4	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	17.406
5	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	18.278
6	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	19.128
7	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	24.504
8	3	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	26.136
9	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	26.294
10	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	53.978
11	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	55.464
12	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	57.148
13	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	57.480
14	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	58.240
15	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	58.466
16	55	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	58.792
17	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	1'04.567
18	15	Rick Kelly	Ford Mustang GT	1'05.279
19	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	1'12.926
20	19	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore ZB	1'15.525
21	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1'19.407
22	35	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	1'20.285
23	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1'20.480
24	34	Zane Goddard	Holden Commodore ZB	1'20.642
View full results