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TOWNSVILLE SUPERSPRINT 2 – SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER – QUALIFYING, TOP 10 SHOOTOUT AND RACE 22

Fabian Coulthard - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Qualifying – Part 1:  15th (Fastest Lap:1m12.8377s)
Qualifying – Part 2: 12th (Fastest Lap: 1m12.6541s)
Top 10 Shootout:  DNS 
Race 22 – 7th (Fastest Lap: 1m14.3452s )

Scott McLaughlin - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Qualifying – Part 1:  1st (Fastest Lap:1m12.3983s)
Qualifying – Part 2: 1st (Fastest Lap:1m12.2249s)
Top 10 Shootout: 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m12.0144s)
Race 22 – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m13.7193s)

RACE 22 RECAP
McLaughlin has had the perfect day out at the Townsville SuperSprint 2 claiming his 71st pole position and his 53rd career race win.

McLaughlin gave a masterclass in qualifying today at the Townsville SuperSprint 2, topping the timesheet in all sessions and claiming the 71st pole position of his career. Coulthard missed out on progressing to the Top 10 Shootout after the crew ran out of time making adjustments to his Ford Mustang. He started Race 22 in P12.

McLaughlin got away to a clean start and easily maintained his P1 position into the opening turns. Coulthard did well to avoid Hazelwood who stalled on the grid in front of him. He moved up three places on the opening lap.

Ten laps in and McLaughlin had opened his lead to van Gisbergen by 1.740s, maintaining his control of the race. Coulthard was sitting comfortably in P9.

On lap 17, Coulthard was the first of the Shell V-Power Racing Team cars to complete his compulsory stop having been overtaken by Pye two laps earlier. He rejoined in P20 with most of the field yet to pit. McLaughlin made his stop one lap later and took on three fresh tyres. He also gained an undercut benefit in the process.

McLaughlin's nearest rival van Gisbergen suffered a mechanical on lap 22 and after spilling oil over the track and was forced to make a second stop for repairs. He was given a black flag after he rejoined the race because his car continued to spill oil across the track. It was day-over for him.

Once all cars in the field had made their stops, McLaughlin was P1 with a lead of 3.634s over Waters. Coulthard was up to P7, just 0.5seconds behind Percat.

With 10 laps to go, Waters was desperately trying to close the gap between him and McLaughlin, but he never got near McLaughlin. In the closing stages of the race, Coulthard was putting the pressure on Percat, edging closer but just didn't have enough to pass.

McLaughlin cruised home to complete a perfect day on the track and claim his 53rd career race win. Coulthard finished P7, up 5 spots up from his starting position.

McLaughlin continues to lead the Championship by 143 points over Red Bull's Jamie Whincup. Coulthard remains in 7th. The Shell V-Power Racing Teams takes back the lead over Red Bull HRT in the Teams Championship by 68 points.

COULTHARD QUOTE 
"We've thrown a few things at the car today as we didn't roll the car out of the truck as well as what we would like, but we improved it as the day went on."

"We improved the car over the two practice sessions, but then in the second qualifying session, we didn't get our second run in to get us through to the shootout. We tried to make a change but ran out of time, so we only got the one run in."

"It's unfortunate because I feel like we could have been in the shootout, and not making it meant we had a little bit more work to do in the race. We got a great start and worked our way up through the field. I pitted about mid-race and managed the tyre there until the end. We came home with a relatively strong 7th."

"We'll have a look at things again tonight and come back to tomorrow to do it all again. If we can make the same improvements we made today, I think we can work our way a little bit further up the grid."

MCLAUGHLIN QUOTE
"It was a very solid day, and we followed all our processes and achieved everything we wanted to in practice with the car. It gave me some confidence going into qualifying."

"We had a great qualifying car today, which is something we really worked on all week. We didn't touch the race car from last week. I was able to put it on pole in qualifying, which was great."

"Then the race was solid. We have a good start and a good pit stop, and it turned out to be a really good day, so I'm happy."