MOTORSPORT: Whincup and McLaughlin fight it out

The Supercars championship has become a two-way battle between Jamie Whincup and Scott McLaughlin.

The six-times champ went 4-1 in his Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore VFII at Pukekohe in New Zealand to take a 30-point lead over McLaughlin to the finale at the new Newcastle street circuit on November 24-26.

The Shell V-Power Ford Falcon FG X driver went 3-2 over the two 70-lap races at the Pukekohe bullring to pass teammate Fabian Coulthard into second place.

Coulthard didn’t finish on Saturday after his Falcon spun into a sandtrap and ended on its roof. Only an overnight rebuild got him on the grid and he rewarded DJR Team Penske with a fifth-place finish on Sunday.

The New Zealander is still in theoretical contention for the championship, trailing Whincup by 176 points in third place, with 300 pints to be won over two 250km races in Newcastle.

Prodrive’s Chaz Mostert also remains a theoretical shot at the title, 264 points off the pace. But the Supercheap Auto Falcon driver was the villain that set off the chain reaction on Saturday that ended with Coulthard turning turtle.

On Sunday he was the innocent victim when spun by his teammates Mark Winterbottom and Cam Waters on the opening lap and dropped to the tail of the field. He fought back to finish seventh.

Mostert was better off than defending Supercars championship Shane van Gisbergen, who gained out of confusion during a safety car period to win on Saturday, but then smashed his Red Bull Commodore into the back of Tim Slade’s Holden when he braked too late in the pitlane entry.

The Kiwi hero’s car was repaired and he got back out to finish 24th, but he is now 276 points behind Whincup and out of the title hunt in all but theory.

Whincup and McLaughlin raced each other all weekend. On Saturday, after qualifying as washed out and grid positions determined by Friday practice times, Whincup had nearly pushed him off the road during a passing attempt for the lead.

Whincup got a bad sportsmanship flag for that move, which McLaughlin repaid when he successfully got by his rival later in the race for third place.

But Whincup had the upper hand on Sunday. Despite feeling ill he was on pole ahead of McLaughlin, jumping from position seven to one on his last qualifying lap.

He made a perfect start in a race that turned into a head-to-head duel. In the end, McLaughlin had to back out of the fight to ensure he had enough fuel to get home.

“We have given ourselves an opportunity to win the championship, no more than that,” said Whincup. “We’ll go to Newcastle and see how we go.

“It’s all about doing the best job of anyone on the weekend at a brand-new track.”

Whincup will be chasing a record seventh championship, while McLaughlin will be after his first.

“I’m pretty gutted, sorry to the fans we couldn’t get it done,” McLaughlin said. “We had to save a lot of fuel at the end, I was on fumes.”

The result also delivered Whincup his second Jason Richards Memorial Trophy. He scored his first Sandown and Bathurst podiums with the late New Zealand driver when they were teammates at Tasman Motorsport in 2005.

Virgin Australia Supercars Championship pointscore:
1 Jamie Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 2850
2 Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FGX 2820
3 Fabian Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FGX 2674
4 Chaz Mostert Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FGX 2586
5 Shane van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 2574
6 Craig Lowndes Team Vortex Holden Commodore VF 2160
7 Cameron Waters Monster Energy Racing Ford Falcon FGX 2071
8 Mark Winterbottom The Bottle-O Racing Team Ford Falcon FGX 2058
9 Garth Tander Wilson Security Racing GRM Holden Commodore VF 2028
10 David Reynolds Erebus Penrite Racing Holden Commodore VF 1956