Van Gisbergen: McLaughlin will be “tough to beat”

The two Kiwis staged a thrilling battle over provisional pole position on the streets of Adelaide today, van Gisbergen edging McLaughlin by 0.0001s.

Having been through a change of teams himself 12 months ago, van Gisbergen paid tribute to his rival’s pace in what is still a relatively unfamiliar Penske Ford, and predicted that it’s a sign of how strong the McLaughlin/DJRTP alliance could become this season.

“It feels much more comfortable to start a season with a year under the belt. Last year I remember I was still learning guys names and stuff like that – and that makes Scotty’s job much more impressive, [because] he’s probably still in that same boat,” said van Gisbergen, who will run last in tomorrow’s Top 10 Shootout.

“He’s going to be tough to beat as he gets more and more comfortable there.”

While wary of McLaughlin’s speed, van Gisbergen added that a team like DJR Team Penske emerging as a proper Supercars force would be a good problem for powerhouse squad Triple Eight to have – even if DJRTP’s signing of former T8 tech guru Ludo Lacroix has ruffled feathers at the Red Bull-backed team.

“I don’t see it as a rivalry. I don’t see [Scott] any different as any other driver,” he said.

“I think there is a little bit of rivalry in between [the] teams, with the powers that be. But from my end, it’s all good. To have a constant team competing against us is a good problem to have.”

McLaughlin, meanwhile, said that’s “nice” to hear that Triple Eight considers DJRTP a genuine rival.

“It’s nice to hear the comments,” he said. “It’s pretty interesting that they’re worried about us, but it’s cool. It’s not a bad thing.

“We’ve got a spring in our step at the moment, and we’re excited about battling these guys. But we’ve got a lot of work to do to be consistent, these guys are consistent every week. We’ve got to make sure we’re doing that.”

Comfortable with Penske package

According to McLaughlin, his early turn of speed comes down to already feeling reasonably comfortable in the Falcon, largely thanks to Lacroix’s work as race engineer.

“We’re really understanding each other well,” said McLaughlin. “He’s found a good balance for me in my car, how I want to drive the car. That’s helped. I got in today and felt pretty comfortable.

“There’s still little things that I need to work on to be comfortable and confident with the car. But absolutely a fantastic start.”

When asked if he expected to be so close to the front, McLaughlin added: “I wouldn’t say P2, but I would have been disappointed if I wasn’t in the Top 10.”

Pole position for the first leg of the Clipsal 500 will be decided by a Top 10 Shootout tomorrow.