McLaughlin slams 'desperado' Reynolds

Scott McLaughlin has slated a 'desperado' move by David Reynolds at the start of Sunday's Watpac Townsville 400 race that proved costly for both drivers.

McLaughlin and Reynolds lined up second and third, but a look by the latter down the inside at Turn 2 resulted in contact.

It forced both drivers wide and to the rear of the pack, Reynolds losing four laps with steering damage while McLaughlin picked up a puncture but stayed on the lead lap.

After finishing 11th, McLaughlin went down to the Penrite Racing garage to confront Reynolds, and later expressed his frustration on Supercars Trackside.

"It was pretty full-on, wasn't it? Especially lap one," said McLaughlin.

"Everybody's battling for visibility and traction, it's risk management on days like today.

"Especially when you're up the front and in a [strong] championship position, like he is.

"Dave was just a desperado. He can say what he wants; I went down and saw him and he said I turned in or whatever.

"But personally, if I turned in it was by a millimetre and he's just clipped me up the rear, so whatever."

McLaughlin stayed on the lead lap initially, but went a lap down through pitstops across the first Safety Car period.

Incidents ahead helped his cause, McLaughlin eventually getting back on the lead lap to cross the line 12th, which became 11th with a penalty for Tim Slade.

He maintains a 292-point championship lead over team-mate Fabian Coulthard who finished second.

Reynolds, meanwhile, had to settle for 20th place and falls to fifth.

"You can't win all of them, and certainly I felt like we had a great car today, which is great," McLaughlin added.

"We rebounded really well, certainly there's others worse than us, especially [Reynolds]. I'm not really worried, the team got a podium with Fabs."

The race was the first in the history of the Townsville event to feature rain, including a heavy storm mid-race that forced drivers onto wet tyres.

"I nearly went off on slicks with the aquaplaning because we were trying to get that one lap to unlap ourselves," he said.

"And when it got wet, it was crazy. It was fun, quite a cool track to drive in the rain, just trying to find different lines because you haven't been on it before and have no data for it."