The Bend Supercars: McLaughlin one point from title

McLaughlin was beaten off the line by teammate Fabian Coulthard at the start of the 32-lapper, the pole-sitter even needing to defend into Turn 1 to keep Whincup at bay.

However, once the early challenge from Whincup was contained, the two Penske Fords executed an inevitable switch, Coulthard rolling out of the throttle on Lap 7 to gift the lead to McLaughlin.

From there it looked like a cakewalk for the points leader, who took his mandatory service on Lap 12 and faced an easy run home with Coulthard in the rear gunner role.

That was until Lap 22, when both Coulthard and David Reynolds rolled to a stop with their own driveline problems, not only costing McLaughlin the protection of his teammate, but also his margin thanks to the deployment of the safety car.

The six-lap dash home proved simple enough, however, McLaughlin comfortably able to hold off Anton De Pasquale and Cam Waters to take a 56th career victory, which moves him clear into fourth on the all-time winners list.

Even better for McLaughlin was that Whincup slumped to seventh in the race thanks to a pitstop issue, which means he only needs to outscore the T8 driver by one point in this afternoon's finale to seal the title with a round to go.

"It's a bummer about Fabs, we were on for a one-two there," said McLaughlin.

"Huge team game by Shell V-Power Racing, Fabs took it on the chin to let me go at the start. I really appreciate that. He had a great car and a great start.

"We'll make sure we dot our i's and cross out t's. If we can get it done today, that'd be fantastic. If we don't, we'll put ourselves in the best position come Bathurst."

Having run third in the first stint, Whincup was delayed at his stop when he ran over an air hose on his way into the box. That meant his service took 6.6s, Whincup re-emerging down in sixth.

The safety car didn't go his way, either, teammate Shane van Gisbergen opting to stop for four tyres for a charge to the flag. That meant he was able to chase Whincup down, Triple Eight giving the Kiwi the green light to pass the #88 entry, despite it robbing Whincup of points.

Van Gisbergen managed to climb all the way to fifth, passing Rick Kelly, Whincup, Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat in the last six laps. He managed to get onto the back of fourth-placed James Courtney, too, but the veteran was too solid in his defence on the final lap.

#	Driver	Time	Gap	Interval
17	Scott McLaughlin	-
99	Anton De Pasquale	1.127	1.128	1.128
6	Cameron Waters	1.769	1.770	0.642
44	James Courtney	2.816	2.817	1.047
97	Shane van Gisbergen	3.144	3.144	0.327
8	Nick Percat	3.654	3.654	0.510
88	Jamie Whincup	3.986	3.987	0.332
25	Chaz Mostert	4.571	4.572	0.585
15	Rick Kelly	5.706	5.706	1.135
7	Andre Heimgartner	8.955	8.956	3.249
14	Todd Hazelwood	9.804	9.804	0.848
18	Mark Winterbottom	10.410	10.411	0.607
55	Jack Le Brocq	11.416	11.416	1.005
3	Macauley Jones	12.246	12.246	0.830
22	Chris Pither	12.702	12.703	0.457
34	Jake Kostecki	15.144	15.145	2.442
4	Jack Smith	19.960	19.960	4.816
2	Bryce Fullwood	25.993	25.993	6.033
20	Scott Pye	1'44.519	1'44.520	1'18.527
12	Fabian Coulthard
9	David Reynolds
35	Garry Jacobson
5	Lee Holdsworth
View full results