MOTORSPORT: McLaughlin's winning plan

Having relinquished his Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (VASC) lead after an engine failure at Bathurst, Scott McLaughlin has a simple plan for the final three events of the season: win.

The 24-year old will get his first chance to put that plan into practice this weekend at the Gold Coast 600, the final co-driver event of the season, which is decided over two 300km street races.

“It’s all about race wins now,” the DJR Team Penske Ford Falcon FG X driver told motoring.com.au.

“I have to switch the switch and go on the attack… It is just going to be a hard slog… I am excited because race wins win championships and good results matter.”

McLaughlin said he had been focused on beating his championship opponents in recent events rather than taking race wins, as he defended his championship lead. But that’s been turned on its head now.

“I know what it takes to lead the championship, I have come from behind in the championship before and I am comfortable we have the car speed to do it.

“I like the Gold Coast track. I have had a couple of poles and three podiums but no wins, so I will try and sort that out this weekend,” the young Kiwi stated.

Despite McLaughlin’s Sunday Bathurst disaster in the Shell V-Power Racing Ford he shared with Frenchman Alex Premat, he still emerged from Bathurst with his reputation enhanced by his incredible 2:03.831 Top 10 Shootout lap, the fastest ever recorded in a Supercar at the 6.213km track. The lap also delivered a record-breaking 14th pole of the year.

“I wish I’d had my big moment on Sunday rather than Saturday,” he said.

“I don’t know how Peter Brock won that race nine times. I’d be happy with one!”

McLaughlin’s teammate Fabian Coulthard now leads the championship on 2431 points after claiming third in the Bathurst 1000 with Tony D’Alberto. The duo also lead the Pirtek Enduro Cup entering its final round.

Red Bull HRT driver Jamie Whincup is second on 2340 points, after salvaging 20th place in the Mount Panorama classic with Paul Dumbrell, despite his factory Holden Commodore having its own engine issues.

There are two other drivers in with a serious shot at the title: Chaz Mostert who is fourth in the championship on 2208 points in the Supercheap Autos Ford Falcon FG X he shares with Steve Owen; and despite his own tendency to write off his title defence, Red Bull’s Shane van Gisebergen has narrowed his gap to the championship leader to less than 300 points (2142 points) after an incident-packed Bathurst, which ended with fifth place for him and young Porsche hot-shoe, Matthew Campbell.

Having five drivers from three teams so closely fighting out the championship so late in the season is almost unheard of in Supercars and it means that with a maximum 900 points to still be won predicting a titleholder is fraught with danger.

It’s the same story when it comes to tipping race winners on the Gold Coast. DJR Team Penske, Red Bull HRT and Prodrive Racing Australia will be thereabouts, while it will be interesting to see if David Reynolds and our man Luke Youlden can continue their giant-killing form from Bathurst in the Erebus Penrite Commodore.

What we do know about the Gold Coast is strong qualifying is important as passing is difficult on this spectacular street circuit. We also know safety cars will almost certainly intervene, making good strategic planning crucial. Avoiding stacking and having good fuel economy are two guiding principles with which to start.

Meanwhile, the silly season continues to stir as Erebus driver Dale Wood hinted after his Bathurst fourth he could hang up his helmet in 2017. That would, leave Erebus free to recruit a young gun like Jack Le Brocq to take his seat. Superstar Craig Lowndes will have a new primary sponsor in 2018, with automotive parts retailer Autobarn taking over from Caltex.

And in breaking news, the Supercars plan to take over management of Australian GT racing has fallen through after being rejected by CAMS.

>> All qualifying and racing will be conducted on the Dunlop soft tyre.

>> All cars will have to make at least two stops. The co-drivers must complete at least one-third distance.

>> The anti-clockwise 2.96km track has a top speed of 265km/h. Average speed is 146km/h. The public road circuit is incredibly tough on the machinery, requiring the drivers to ‘fly’ the cars through the high-speed front and back straight chicanes to be on the pace. Brakes, suspensions and drivelines cop a pounding – as do the drivers!

>> David Reynolds owns the qualifying lap record at 1m 10.0480 sec. Will Davison owns the race lap record at 1m 10.0851 sec.

>> Jamie Whincup has the most poles with six, with Garth Tander, Greg Murphy and Shane van Gisbergen each on three. Van Gisbergen and Whincup split the poles between them last year.

>> Garth Tander and Jamie Whincup have the most wins here with seven, while Paul Radisich has five and Greg Murphy, Russell Ingall and John Bowe four.

>> Shane van Gisbergen has won the Saturday race here for the last three years, the first two with Jonathon Webb and most recently with Alex Premat. Whincup won on Sunday last year, with co-driver Paul Dumbrell.

>> Nissan Motorsport’s Rick Kelly will start his 221st Supercars/touring car championship round. He moves past Mark Skaife for seventh on the all-time list of round starts in championship history - next on the list ahead of him is Hall of Famer John Bowe with 226.

>> Prodrive Racing Australia endurance co-driver Steve Owen will make championship round start 100 on the Gold Coast.

>> Fox Sports and Channel 10 will telecast the action live.