MOTORSPORT: Ford Supercars ace blasts Holden driver's 'silly games'

A robust pass for the lead by Shane van Gisbergen and some follow-up post-race verbal jabs have left Supercars championship leader Scott McLaughlin fuming and hinting of payback.

McLaughlin was the top-scorer in the weekend’s Townsville title round in his DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang, but described van Gisbergen’s overtaking move late in the final race as “pretty average”.

The factory Holden Commodore ZB driver purposely ran McLaughlin wide so teammate Jamie Whincup – McLaughlin’s closest title rival – could slide through into second place.

“I feel like it’s too early for those silly games,” said McLaughlin. “Whether I agree it’s sportsmanship or not, that’s fair game.

“They’re a top team and they set a precedent, so let’s go.”

McLaughlin had conceded van Gisbergen would pass him on far fresher tyres, but wanted the chance to race Whincup for second.

McLaughlin claimed van Gisbergen apologised for the move on the podium, but there was no sign of contrition from the race winner in the post-race digital press conference.

Instead, when asked if it was a fair move he emphatically declared ‘yes’ and then brought up last year’s Bathurst 1000 where DJRTP was found guilty of ordering McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard to slow down the field under a late-race safety car.

“We don’t need to bring up debriss and stuff like that but I thought it was a fair pass on my part,” van Gisbergen said.

A famous piece of evidence against DJRTP was the use of the word ‘debriss’ rather than ‘debri’ by Coulthard’s engineer, which was judged to be a code to slow the field down.

Seven-time champ Whincup also got involved with a post-race crack in Townsville at Coulthard’s inability to run at the front this year describing DJRTP as a “one plus one” car team.

That too annoyed McLaughlin, as well as Coulthard.

“You would probably expect more from a guy like him,” said McLaughlin.

“I think it’s mind games,” added Coulthard.

Offered the chance during the digital press conference to elaborate more fully on what he meant Whincup declined.

The burly racing between McLaughlin and the Triple Eight double-act in race three of the second Townsville event was a fitting conclusion to four consecutive weekends of Supercars action that started at Darwin’s Hidden Valley in August.

McLaughlin entered the four-week swing leading Whincup in the championship by 107 points and exited leading by 143. There are a maximum 900 points left to be won over two sprint events at The Bend in South Australia and the Bathurst 1000.

McLaughlin went 1-2-3 over the weekend, while Whincup finished 4-3-2. After retiring on Saturday with a power steering failure van Gisbergen won both races on Sunday.

His first victory of the season was also number 200 for Triple Eight Race Engineering since it joined the Australian touring car competition in 2003.

Van Gisbergen did have some good fortune on his way to his second race win of the day. He evaded a penalty for spinning Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters during a concertina early in the race and then a safety car came out just as he took four tyres, compressing the field and greatly aiding his charge forward from ninth.

The meeting marked a milestone for Brad Jones Racing drivers Nick Percat and Todd Hazelwood, who scored their first pole positions on Sunday. In fact they locked out the front row in race three.

Sadly, the race-pace wasn’t there for either Holden Commodore driver and Percat faded to 7-4 finishes, while Hazelwood was sixth in race three after spending a long stint in the lead.

In fact race three emphasised the gulf in race-pace between T8 and DJRTP and the rest. Van Gisbergen came through from 12th on the grid to claim the win, Whincup improved from fifth on the grid and McLaughlin pushed through to third from 10th.

Only these three drivers have won a race in the last 11 starts, the two teams reasserting their dominance once the championship reverted to an orthodox soft tyre allocation.

The consistent Chaz Mostert, who was the number three points scorer across the weekend and third in the championship, best caught the mood of the rest about the fight to beat the two top teams.

“Those couple of cars at the front are in a bit of a league of their own. We’ve got a bit of work to do,” the Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden Commodore driver said.

2020 Supercars standings:
Scott McLaughlin – 1834
Jamie Whincup – 1691
Chaz Mostert – 1390
Cam Waters – 1369
Shane van Gisbergen – 1357
Nick Percat – 1281
Fabian Coulthard – 1172
Mark Winterbottom - 1166
Lee Holdsworth – 1143
David Reynolds – 1134