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McLaughlin: I Have to Battle #1 if I Want to Win a Championship

14 Mar 2014
McLaughlin-Whincup contest continues on the streets.
3 mins by James Pavey
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Scott McLaughlin and Jamie Whincup’s battle in the closing stages of the Clipsal 500 is a moment many won’t forget. The Valvoline Volvo and Red Bull Commodore went head to head, with McLaughlin clinching second to an eruption of cheers on the final lap.

And yesterday at the Formula One Rolex Australia Grand Prix, the contest continued. The young gun and five-time Champion once again found themselves battling it out on the streets, this time, in Melbourne.

Talking about the racing – which became heated enough for Whincup to skimp on racing room and earn a five-grid spot penalty for the following hit-out – McLaughlin casually mentioned his possibility at winning a Championship. But he backtracked quickly, and said – with his trademark grin – he meant “one day”.

“It’s the best thing, you can trust someone like him,” the 20-year old Kiwi said of rival Whincup. 

“You can race hard but you’re fair.

“I’m not (saying) that move on the straight was fair, but it’s hard and I’ve got to get used to it.

“If I want to win a Championship, I’ve got to race hard and expect those sort of things.

“But I’m enjoying it, loving it and really respect Jamie heaps – if I didn’t respect him, I’d put him in the fence.”

So the Championship is front of mind, then Scotty?

“Nah!” he laughed. “But obviously one day I want to win a Championship – it might not be this year and I’m not expecting it to be this year, but I think I’ve definitely got a good car, that one day it’ll be pretty good.”

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McLaughlin finished last year 10th in the points and earned two Championship race wins – as well as his first victory at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix – so he knows what it takes to get to the front in V8 Supercars. 

“Any time you get to battle with a Triple Eight car – obviously he’s got the #1 on the door so you want to try and beat him,” McLaughlin said.

“If you’re beating him, you’re doing a good job. I enjoyed it, it was pretty awesome.

“I had a bit of an overlap there at one stage, I thought he would’ve gave me a little bit more room into the grass there, that’s why I kept my foot into it, but at the end of the day that’s alright, it’s just racing – hard racing – but after that we gave each other room as well.

“It’s been fun, credit to him and myself I guess for making some pretty good racing, it’s cool.”

Though he has garnered plenty of attention since his breakthrough race – which actually came at this event last year, just his second in main game V8 Supercars – McLaughlin’s star has shot even higher since his post-race interview in Adelaide. “Give it some jandal” has become his new catch-phrase and his social media following has risen exponentially.

“It’s been hectic! My Facebook has gone up 10,000, Twitter has gone up 3000 – just the level of support and media and stuff I’ve got from it has been amazing.

“But I guess it’s all about keeping it up now and I’m happy. I’m just doing my normal thing, I’m not doing anything different, I was just myself there and it worked.”

McLaughlin will start from fifth for the first of today’s race. Click here to see the order of the grid, which has been determined on accumulative points from Races One and Two at the MSS Security V8 Supercars Challenge.

Today’s Race Three begins at 3.25pm local time.

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