Townsville Supercars: McLaughlin dominates opener

The Penske Ford driver stretched his points advantage with ease, converting a clean start from pole into a comfortable win.

His job was made even easier when Shane van Gisbergen, who'd run second throughout the first stint, suffered a power steering issue right before making his stop.

The Red Bull Holden driver did try and continue after stopping to swap his regular steering wheel for Triple Eight's famous 'bus wheel' to make the car easier to turn.

However he was quickly black-flagged for the persistent fluid leak.

It's unlikely van Gisbergen would have caught McLaughlin anyway, the Kiwi cruising to a 3.4s win over Cam Waters.

"Awesome. We didn't touch the race car at all from last week. I'm feeling really happy. A bit tired, but all good."

Waters, who ran third behind van Gisbergen in the first stint, did drop behind Jamie Whincup after his stop thanks to taking on three new tyres to Whincup's two. 

It didn't take long for the Monster Ford to find a way back through, van Gisbergen's retirement leaving him in second. 

He was able to match McLaughlin on the run home, but never looked like hauling the Shell Mustang in.

Chaz Mostert relegated an under-rubbered Whincup to fourth in the second stint as the Walkinshaw driver sealed the final spot on the podium. As a result, Whincup is now 143 points behind McLaughlin in the standings. 

Anton De Pasquale and Nick Percat duked it out for fifth, the Erebus driver getting the job done, while Fabian Coulthard climbed his way from outside the Top 10 to seventh. 

Van Gisbergen wasn't the only driver struck with power steering issues in the race, meanwhile, with David Reynolds forfeiting a Top 10 spot thanks to a similar issue in Erebus Holden. 

Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Car	Gap
1	17	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT
2	6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	3.490
3	25	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	10.816
4	88	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	16.008
5	99	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	17.989
6	8	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	27.370
7	12	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	29.585
8	55	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	30.266
9	20	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	32.539
10	44	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	34.985
11	15	Rick Kelly	Ford Mustang GT	39.590
12	14	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	42.910
13	19	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore ZB	43.867
14	18	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	45.084
15	35	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	45.468
16	5	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	45.763
17	2	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	57.276
18	7	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	59.150
19	3	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	1'01.726
20	34	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1'02.510
21	22	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1'06.334
22	4	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB
	97	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB
	9	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB
View full results