MCLAUGHLIN WINS RACE TWO AT THE ADELAIDE 500

Scott McLaughlin has scored what seemed to be an unlikely victory in race 2 at the 2020 Superloop 500.

Red Bull Racing Holden driver Shane van Gisbergen appeared to be on course for a comfortable win which would have given the team a clean sweep of the weekend only to fall short after a refueling miscalculation and then a possible shock absorber failure saw van Gisbergen fail to finish the race.

McLaughlin won from Chaz Mostert and Cameron Waters in a race that produced a number of errors from both drivers and team alike.

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Scott McLaughlin swept past Shane van Gisbergen at the start of the race and held the lead until the first round of pitstops, where the Red Bull Holden Racing Team went with a lighter fuel load and therefore a shorter stop for the #97 Commodore

Unlike race 1 which ran green throughout, this race had run barely a lap before the first caution period. Teammates David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale made contact at turn 9, the tap from Reynolds spun his fellow Erebus driver into a precarious position. While Reynolds used the escape road, de Pasquale had nowhere to hide and was soon hit by Scott Pye. The Team 18 driver parked his Commodore near turn 10 and walked away.

Many teas chose to make a stop after lap 3 and the Safety Car continued to circulate, while others stuck with their original plan. The race resumed on lap 6 only for a second interruption some ten laps later after Chris Pither found the tyre bundle at turn 12.

The race resumed with van Gisbergen able to build the predicted 2 second lead needed to stay ahead of the Shell V-Power Mustang after the final round of stops.

When that cycle eventually took place, van Gisbergen left the pits with insufficient fuel to compete the race, an error that ultimately cost the team much more than the second or so needed to complete the required refuel. McLaughlin inherited and unlikely lead when van Gisbergen eventually stopped for a top up of fuel.

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Chaz Mostert climbed to second in what had been somewhat of a revival for WAU over the weekend, with Mostert’s performance giving hope for the alliance for a much needed victory in the not to distant future. Cameron Waters climbed to third and looked to hold off van Gisbergen in the closing laps as the Red Bull Holden charged with fuel to burn. Waters resisted the early attacks and then drove away as van Gisbergen limped to a halt.

McLaughlin won from Mostert and Waters, with race 1 winner Jamie Whincup back in fifth. A lowly 7th in the Armor All Top 10 shootout after he tagged the wall on his flying lap proved too big a hurdle to overcome with the closeness of the competition after the off season parity adjustments.

“Full credit to Shane and his team, they really should’ve won that race,” McLaughlin said. “They had the faster car. I’ll take it, I’ll take the luck we can. I won’t look back at it, my guys always put me on a great strategy, yesterday they put me on an awesome one. Today I was like, ‘damn, we didn’t get in front of him’, but I had to pull my socks up and have a crack.I’m really happy for all the Ford fans out there that got a win today.”

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