Rogers thanks Frosty

Team boss Garry Rogers has thanked defending Supercars champ Mark Winterbottom for allowing Scott McLaughlin to sneak through for third in the closing stages of the Castrol Gold Coast 600 on Sunday.

McLaughlin was all locked up to make the move, which Winterbottom since said he had no issue with given his car was off the pace.

Rogers has sung in to say thanks to his competitor, knowing full well the Volvo could’ve finished in the wall.

“I had goosebumps as I watched the Volvo slide sideways with the front wheels locked and somehow found its way up the inside of the Prodrive Falcon,” Rogers wrote in his regular post-event column.

“I have since watched replays of the pass and as much as it was fantastic to watch and under the circumstances Scotty did a brilliant job to not fence the car, Frosty was very ‘kind’ to Scotty as he could have taken him out.

“Thanks Frosty!”

The move garnered plenty of attention with McLaughlin making light of it in the post-race press conference after his incident with Jamie Whincup at the previous round at Bathurst.

“Pretty ironic I was coming down the inside of some bloke after Bathurst but it was one of those things – I felt the move was on and I just had a go,” he laughed, as Whincup sat beside him.

“Seriously I had a go and it was cool.”

Meanwhile Rogers was pleased with the performance of both cars at the Gold Coast, with the Volvo shared by James Moffat and James Golding qualifying well and earning fifth on Saturday and 12th Sunday, after a disastrous Pirtek Enduro Cup campaign.

Rogers commended the work of Golding and McLaughlin’s co-driver David Wall – who earned his first two Supercars podiums on the weekend.

“James ‘Bieber’ Golding had one of the most difficult initiations that you can have at Sandown where he crashed heavily after a tyre blow,” Rogers said. 

“Over the GC weekend, which is a track where he has never driven and isn’t an easy circuit to get a handle on, he improved stint after stint and his drive on Sunday from lap 16 to lap 34 is as good a performance I have seen from a rookie.

“Wallee, well you should be very proud of yourself. It’s been a busy time for you jumping out of the Porsche into the Volvo over the three endurance rounds and you have done it all with a minimum of fuss and have always kept the car clean for Scotty to bring it home.

“To see the tear in your mum’s eyes when you stood up on the dais is the reason I do what I do!”

McLaughlin will be looking for more success as he heads to home track Pukekohe next week, sitting fourth but just 76 points off Craig Lowndes in third in the Championship.