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Rewind: the action-packed last visit to Phillip Island

05 Aug 2021
Two races, two SVPRT one-twos. But it was more than that
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Confirmation of the return to Phillip Island sees the iconic Grand Prix circuit host host its first Supercars event since 2019.

The newly-announced Bunnings Trade Phillip Island SuperSprint will take place in late October, and will be the final hit-out before Bathurst.

Back in 2019, the Island hosted the fourth round of the season, and two entertaining and vastly different races.

Saturday saw eventual champion Scott McLaughlin lead home Shell V-Power Racing team-mate Fabian Coulthard in a Mustang one-two.

It was another day in 2019 for McLaughlin to flex his title muscle; he won the 27-lap race just hours after he claimed ARMOR ALL Pole by six tenths.

Highlights: Race 9 2019 WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint

Kelly Racing Nissan driver Andre Heimgartner took third, his maiden solo Supercars podium, on a day several big names were in the wars.

Notably, Jamie Whincup failed to finish after he dramatically shed a wheel.

McLaughlin led off the line after a strong challenge from Coulthard, who was chasing his first win in 11 months.

The Shell Fords were four seconds clear when the pit window opened on lap five.

McLaughlin and third-placed Rick Kelly stopped immediately, followed by Coulthard and Heimgartner on the following lap.

Heimgartner managed to jump his teammate, with McLaughlin edging away to a three-second lead by lap 10.

Whincup later made his stop, but was forced to the side of the track when his car lost its front-right wheel.

Whincup loses wheel after pitstop

The Safety Car was deployed, aiding Coulthard’s charge after he clashed the gap to McLaughlin to just over a second.

McLaughlin, however, maintained the position on the restart and drove away to a 1.2s win.

There was a nervous wait for the Ford team, however, after stewards announced both DJR Team Penske pitstops were under investigation for failing to have their line-lockers engaged during their stops.

"Unreal. It’s great for the team, one-two," McLaughlin beamed.

"We just sort of controlled the race from the start. It’s awesome to get a win here again, I love this place.

Wheel trouble for Winterbottom

"[The start] was awesome, we were so equal… they were exactly the same.

"Into Turn 1 he didn’t want to back out and I didn’t want to back out either, but the aim of the game is not to make contact and we didn’t.”

It marked a fourth one-two finish for the Shell V-Power Racing Team in nine starts.

"We tried our best at the start to go around the outside but that’s all I had," Coulthard said.

"We know the rules, race hard, clean and fair and we have a lot of respect for each other.”

Hard battle ends race for Waters

David Reynolds was fourth ahead of Chaz Mostert and Shane van Gisbergen, who survived an incident with Cameron Waters after the restart.

Waters’ attempt to pass van Gisbergen exiting Siberia broke the right-rear suspension on the Monster Mustang, ending his race.

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Earlier, James Courtney and Tim Slade both suffered front-right tyre failures in unison on lap 10, before making their pitstops.

Mark Winterbottom also lost a wheel, a right-rear, while running well down the order.

Come Sunday, and Coulthard turned the tables on McLaughlin to claim victory in the 200km race.

Highlights: Race 10 2019 WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint

It marked Coulthard's first victory since Winton in May 2018.

Coulthard jumped pole-sitter and early leader McLaughlin during the first round of stops.

The veteran remained ahead during the second round of stops, and managed the race from there.

The end margin between the two Fords was just 0.67s.

The surprise packet was Anton De Pasquale, who claimed an impressive maiden podium.

Todd Hazelwood was spun out of seventh at Turn 6 on the opening lap by James Courtney, who was handed Courtney a 15-second penalty.

Hazelwood would finish 16th, while Courtney suffered a pair of right-front tyre failures, finishing last and two laps down.

McLaughlin led by nearly two seconds when he stopped on lap 5.

Tickford Racing played its hand by short-filling Mostert and Waters, with the two Fords emerging effectively first and second.

Coulthard got ahead of McLaughlin after his stop on lap 7, with De Pasquale also coming out in front of both Shell Fords.

McLaughlin was the first of the leaders to make his second stop on lap 17. He emerged ahead of Mostert and Waters, who came in on the following lap. However, De Pasquale emerged ahead of the #17 Mustang from his stop two laps later.

Coulthard jumped them all after his lap 20 stop, with McLaughlin later clearing De Pasquale at Turn 2.

McLaughlin closed the gap, but was unable to clear his teammate in the closing laps.

"We work so hard as a team, Scott has had a lot of wins this year, which is a credit to all those guys, they’ve done a fantastic job," Coulthard said.

"To finally get one is awesome, I can’t thank my crew enough.”

McLaughlin added: "I’m really happy with my weekend, it’s been a big week for those guys away, two weeks on the road and to come away with three one-twos is massive.

"We’ll have a little think about it in the debrief, talk about a few things, but the idea is for the team to win and we’ve done that on multiple occasions in this past couple of weeks."

De Pasquale allayed fuel concerns to cross the line 1.7s ahead of Will Davison in fourth.

"It’s awesome. It was obviously really good to start off with fourth in qualifying. I nailed the start and then just followed the Penske boys for most of the race,” said De Pasquale, who claimed a trophy in his 41st start.

"Obviously the team had a really good strategy, I was in clean air for most of the race and it’s a credit to them, it’s what they deserve.

"I had about 10 [laps] to go and Will wasn’t going to catch me, but then they said save fuel and obviously that’s very stressful when you’re fighting for your first podium.

"You’ve got to save fuel and try and go fast, but in the end it all worked out and I think we’ll have a great night tonight.”

Mostert and Waters were fifth and sixth, with van Gisbergen seventh.

Whincup was only 12th, behind Kelly, Tim Slade, Nick Percat and Reynolds.

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