MOTORSPORT: Kiwis share Supercars spoils

After 320km of racing at Queensland Raceway over the weekend, it’s as you were in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (VASC).

Scott McLaughlin entered the event with a 131-point lead over Shane van Gisbergen and after they shared a win and a second place apiece, that’s how they exited the weekend.

So, it’s Kiwi versus Kiwi, Ford versus Holden, DJR Team Penske (DJRTP) versus Red Bull Holden Racing Team (RBHRT) at the front of the field and the top of the table. Situation normal in other words.

McLaughlin and his Shell V-Power Ford Falcon FG X were arguably the fastest combination at the QR ‘paperclip’, claiming pole position for both races, taking his tally to 10 for the year. But van Gisbergen and his RBHRT ZB Commodore was the fastest starting combo, vaulting from eighth to third on the opening lap of the Saturday race and into the lead from the front row on Sunday.

Van Gisbergen attributed that fast-starting ability to a recent “creature comfort” design change in the cockpit of the Commodore that helped him with his launches.

“[It's] just a small tweak. It's creature comforts and it's what you're used to. It seems to be working so far,” he said on Saturday,

It was apparent that qualifying and track positon were the pre-eminent factors at QR. The racing itself was mostly processional, with most important passing off the line or in pitlane.

Such is the nature of Supercars racing these days, both McLaughlin’s team-mate Fabian Coulthard and Tickford Racing’s Chaz Mostert used their blinkers to signal van Gisbergen past during the long middle stint of Sunday’s race.

That’s all about maximising your own tyre life by not fighting for position and is simply an acknowledgement of relative car pace. But it must be confusing to casual observers of the sport seeing such courteous behaviour when Supercars racing is supposedly all about panel bashing action.

It’s worth pondering that if Coulthard had been able to hold up van Gisbergen for even a couple of laps, his team-mate might have emerged in front at the final pit stop exchange and not 1.5sec behind.

“We didn’t get the start, and then once we got up to Shane we didn’t have enough to get past,” McLaughlin said on Sunday.

“I think we probably had the pace if we’d been in front, and would have been able to keep the gap like he did… Shane and I probably had the two best cars out there, and we maximised those today.”

Resurgent Craig Lowndes picked up third place on Saturday in the Autobarn Commodore, while Mostert showed there was still life in the Tickford Fords, claiming the final podium spot on Sunday at one of his favourite tracks in the Supercheap Falcon.

In both cases, they resisted the late race advances of defending Supercars champ Jamie Whincup, who struggled in qualifying on both days and compounded that with a poor start on Saturday.

Whincup has now climbed to third overall in the championship, but is 451 points from the championship lead. That’s 1.5 events worth of wins and that’s a dangerously large gap – but it’s Whincup so you never write him off.

A lackluster weekend for David Reynolds in the Erebus Penrite Commodore has him 483 points adrift of the title battle and down to fourth on the table.

There was little else of note happening across the two days of racing.

Van Gisbergen, Lowndes and Mostert had an entertaining scrap for second on Saturday, the two Walkinshaw United Commodores clashed on the opening lap on Sunday, re-igniting some intra-team tension and Rick Kelly continued to show strong qualifying form in the Castrol Nissan Altima but was ultimately unable to back it up.

Next up, the championship heads to the Saturday night 300km race at Sydney Motorsport Park on August 3-4.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship pointscore
1. Scott McLaughlin - Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 2321
2. Shane van Gisbergen - Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore ZB 2190
3. Jamie Whincup - Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore ZB 1870
4. David Reynolds - Erebus Penrite Racing Holden Commodore ZB 1838
5. Craig Lowndes - Autobarn Lowndes Racing Holden Commodore ZB 1821
6. Fabian Coulthard - Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 1652
7. Rick Kelly - Castrol Racing Nissan Altima 1522
8. Chaz Mostert - Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FG X 1517
9. Scott Pye - Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing Holden Commodore ZB 1489
10. Tim Slade - Freightliner Racing Holden Commodore ZB 1397