McLaughlin Takes 100th Win for the Team In Darwin
June 16, 2018
Fabian Coulthard - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Practice 3 – 8th (Fastest Lap: 1m06.5555s)
Qualifying – 14th (Fastest Lap: 1m06.2535s)
Race 15 – 15th (Fastest Lap: 1m07.6372s)
Scott McLaughlin - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford
Practice 3 – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m06.1410s)
Qualifying – 2nd (Fastest Lap: 1m05.8943s)
Race 15 – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m07.1932s)
RECAP: Race 15 saw contrasting fortunes for Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard. Starting second, McLaughlin settled into the second position for the opening stint of the race behind polesitter David Reynolds. The pit stops started on lap six, with McLaughlin taking his first stop on lap seven. The team changed right side tyres only, with McLaughlin emerging as the effective leader in front of Nissan"s Rick Kelly. McLaughlin was back up to p10 on lap 17, and continued his charge back to the lead as the pit stop cycle continued. McLaughlin was challenged late in the race by Shane van Gisbergen, who pitted on lap 20 and was using much fresher tyres to charge through the pack. He got within half a second of McLaughlin by lap 33, but McLaughlin drove well and was able to hold him off to take the team"s 100th all-time victory. Coulthard"s race saw him start 14th. He got up to 10th position on lap one, and continued to push through the pack, pitting from fifth on lap 12, rejoining in 18th. He was back into 14th place late in the race, however as he began to struggle with tyre life, those who stopped late were able to push past Coulthard to see the No.12 driver finish 15th. McLaughlin now leads the Championship by 143 points from Shane van Gisbergen. Coulthard remains seventh. The team now leads the Teams" points by 69 points from Triple Eight Race Engineering.
COULTHARD QUOTE: "I Got a good start, and made up four or five spots on the opening lap. We decided to pit early, but in in hindsight it probably wasn"t the right call. We"ll just regroup, and learn from it for tomorrow. I"m stoked for the team to have taken the 100th win, and to have been a part of that is a pretty proud moment. It"s a massive achievement."
MCLAUGHLIN QUOTE: "I"m glad I didn"t have a heart rate monitor on – I would have blown the thing off the scale! Thanks to everyone at Shell V-Power Racing Team, they put a lot of faith in me to bring it home today, and thankfully I did. I wanted that win really bad to repay all the hard work the boys have been doing behind the scenes, and for it to be the 100th win for the team makes it a really great day."