First blood to Scott McLaughlin as the new Ford Mustang wins on its debut at Adelaide

Scott McLaughlin started his championship title defence perfectly at Adelaide Street Circuit, with a dominant victory in the first round of the 2019 Supercars Championship. The Kiwi leapt into the lead at the start, and from there was never really threatened for the win.

It was McLaughlin’s DJR Team Penske team-mate Fabian Coulthard who’d actually secured pole position in the top ten shootout, after setting a lap time of 1:19.892, three-tenths of a second clear of the Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden Commodore of Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the race, Coulthard moved too early, while McLaughlin quickly pounced from third on the grid, with Whincup, Coulthard and McLaughlin going three-wide into Turn 1, with McLaughlin on the inside in his Ford Mustang and coming out on top.

The two DJR Team Penske cars were now running 1-2, but it was soon confirmed that Coulthard would have to serve a ten second penalty at his first pit stop for his transgression at the start. The team deliberately pitted him early on lap 11 so he could make up ground with an alternative strategy to the rest of the field.

Shane van Gisbergen, in the #97 Triple Eight Holden, had also got past team-mate Whincup on the first lap, but an aggressive move at Turn 14 on lap five saw Whincup retake the position, with the seven-time champion showing more pace than his team-mate and stayed safely ahead of the New Zealander throughout the rest of the race.

Just after the first round of pit stops had taken place, Lee Holdsworth, now driving in the Tickford Racing Ford Mustang, spun out at Turn 7 on lap 27 and was collected unsighted by Walkinshaw Andretti Racing’s Scott Pye.

The two drivers were able to recover themselves to the pits, with Holdsworth rejoining several laps down after repairs, while Pye’s Holden was out of the race, with the driver critical about the absence of yellow flags at the corner.

The officials didn’t seem to agree with the 29-year-old’s view, marking the #2 Holden driver down for review after the race for failing to respect the yellow flags.

The next close fight at the front was between van Gisbergen’s Holden and Chaz Mostert in the Tickford Ford Mustang, with Mostert showing great pace as he closed up and battled van Gisbergen’s car soon after the first round of stops.

Mostert locked up behind van Gisbergen on lap 40, and lost a spot to 23Red Racing’s Will Davison, but he soon recovered that position during the final round of pit stops and was then back on the tail of van Gisbergen’s Holden again in short order.

The 26-year-old was monstering the rear of van Gisbergen’s car for several laps, before he again locked up, this time at Turn 4 on lap 50 and went down the escape road, again rejoining behind Will Davison. This time he’d remain there until the end of the race.

Up front, McLaughlin continued to build his lead, going on to win the race by 13 seconds over Whincup’s Holden, with van Gisbergen completing the podium in the second of the Triple Eight team’s entries.

Davison was fourth in his Mustang ahead of Mostert, with Fabian Coulthard recovering to sixth in the second DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang after his earlier pit stop penalty.

Nick Percat was seventh in the best of the Brad Jones Racing Holdens, with David Reynolds eighth in the Erebus Holden.

Mark Winterbottom was ninth, making his first Supercars Championship appearance behind the wheel of a Holden, run by Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, with the Walkinshaw Andretti Racing Holden of James Courtney completing the top ten.

The second race of the weekend takes place on Sunday at 15:20 ACDT (05:50 CET).