Scott McLaughlin vows to come back stronger after being unable to fight in opening Surfers outing

Supercars championship leader Scott McLaughlin was able to hang on to a third place finish in race one of this weekend’s Gold Coast 600, getting onto the podium despite struggling for ultimate car pace in his DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang.

The defending series champion had to sit out the first stint of the race as Frenchman Alex Premat started the #17, losing the lead from pole off the start and handing over the car to McLaughlin in second place behind eventual race winners Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.

Though McLaughlin got to within three seconds of Whincup in the closing stints, Premat’s opening drive in the race racked up a bad sportsmanship flag against the car for overuse of the kerbs around the circuit.

At the post-race press conference, TouringCarTimes asked McLaughlin whether he felt he could fight for the race win given the car looked like it didn’t have the ultimate pace to match the #888 throughout the day.

“I think not being able to take the kerb as much as I wanted was probably a bit hard but I definitely think we have a good car,” McLaughlin said.

“We know at the start of the stint it’s ok and hangs out with these guys (Triple Eight), so we just need to make it better over the long run.

“What we need to do for that, I’m not sure but we have Ludo, Richard, all those boys, The Boffins, to get it sorted and we will work hard overnight to make ourselves better.

“I think we’ll be able to come back stronger tomorrow.”

McLaughlin ultimately lost second place to Shane van Gisbergen after his fellow Kiwi made a charge on younger tyres, getting past the #17 just as the safety car was deployed for a muffler which had come off another car.

In the lead up to losing the spot, McLaughlin lost time battling through backmarkers who were fighting their own race, something which he admits was a problem for all three cars at the front.

“For me the traffic was pretty crazy today,” he said. “Unfortunately coming up on some battles, Jamie (Whincup) had it, Shane had it, I had it; it all was going on.

“From lap one to 15 our car was ok, after lap 15 we had nothing.

“We’ll tune it up, we’ve got a good qualifying car so if we can get some good track position tomorrow and tune it up for the race, we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

“They (Triple Eight) were first class today and we’ve got to do a bit to try and beat them tomorrow.”

With a lead of 613 points to van Gisbergen in the championship, McLaughlin has the chance to seal a second Supercars title tomorrow if he finishes ahead of the Triple Eight driver as there will only be 600 points left on the table when racing concludes at the Surfers Paradise circuit.