Championship race win close, says Volvo star
His ARMOR ALL Pole Position count is up to three, but Scott McLaughlin is yet to take a V8 Supercar Championship race win this season.
The Valvoline Volvo star believes a win is close, but for now is just enjoying finishing on the podium – particularly in front of a home crowd, at the ITM 500 Auckland.
“We couldn’t ask for a better weekend apart from winning. We have found some really good things on the car and we are not far away from that first Volvo win. We are going to keep pushing on,” McLaughlin said.
“We’re there or thereabouts. We just need to sort out chassis out. We were a lot better compared to (Saturday) on tyres, so hopefully, we just keep consistent and at the end of the day it will come one day.
“But it’s pretty cool to be on the podium in our first season.”
Support for McLaughlin was phenomenal over the weekend, with plenty of blue Volvo shirts in the 128,000-plus crowd turning out for the V8 Supercars at Pukekohe.
And while the 20-year old gave himself the best possible opportunity for the win starting from first on the grid – and having no car alongside him on the front row after Tim Slade’s clutch dramas – Ford’s Mark Winterbottom jumped the Volvo in the pits for his second victory of the weekend in the 200km race. Winterbottom shot to the top of the Championship points tally in a meeting that often was blue versus blue up the front.
“It was a pretty good battle up until then but actually, I thought we might have edged in front of Frosty because we probably took on a little more fuel at the first stop – but yeah, he got me,” McLaughlin said.
"It was just basically I caught him up in the first lap, in the first couple of laps in the last stint and I just never really had it.”
Having won at home last year, setting the record for youngest ever Championship race winner, McLaughlin would have loved to repeat the feat, particularly with the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy on the line. But he was happy with the showing and enjoyed the opportunity to return to home soil in a V8 Supercar.
“It (was) a fantastic weekend as a whole,” he said.
“They’ve really come out and supported us and you know you can’t thank them enough. The crowd has been absolutely incredible and for us Kiwi drivers, not only myself but also Shane (van Gisbergen) and Fabian (Coulthard), it’s been just awesome, just to have, and it’s probably one of the best feelings you’ve ever had. You come across the top and finish in second by like 100 seconds, and you’re still getting a massive cheer, so it’s pretty awesome!”
Overall, McLaughlin finished second for the round, 23 points behind Winterbottom, and jumped from 10th to seventh in the Championship points. Two poles and two podium finishes mark his best round results for 2014, as the V8 Supercars Championship heads to Perth for the next event, from May 16-18.
