McLaughlin Climbs The Mountain To Win The Bathurst 1000

DJR Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin has produced a stunning final-lap dash to win a chaotic Bathurst 1000 at Mount Panorama.

A safety car with three laps remaining closed the gap between McLaughlin and second-placed Shane van Gisbergen, leaving the pair one lap to battle it out for the top of the podium. Van Gisbergen said he knew after the first two corners he wouldn’t be able to catch McLaughlin.

“ I got through the first two corners and saw he had more grip, so once you get through those you get a clear run over the top… it was tough,” van Gisbergen said. 

It’s the first time in 10 years a driver has won the race after starting in pole position, the first win for Team Penske, and the first win for Dick Johnson Racing in 25 years.

The win capped off a brilliant week for McLaughlin, who has now won everything there is to win in Supercars. The 26-year-old said the final lap of the race was one of the best experiences he’s had in the car. 

“It was probably one of the coolest laps to be honest, low fuel and low tyre, grip, just really sliding it around… it was unreal,” McLaughlin said. 

It was a drama filled start to the race, with the Kostecki Brothers’ wildcard suffering a cool box failure, which fed carbon dioxide into Brodie Kostecki’s helmet on the formation lap. The start of the race was delayed by 15 minutes, with Jake Kostecki starting car 56 from pit lane. 

The first safety car came on lap one when Tim Slade hit the wall on the way up the mountain after contact with Scott Pye. McLaughlin had jumped to an early lead, while car 6’s co-driver Michael Caruso had moved up from the second row of the grid to be in second, with Chaz Mostert in third. 

The lead switched between car 17, and car 55 in the early stages in the race, with car 888 dominating in the later stages. Last year’s lap record was beaten by a number of drivers, but it was McLaughlin who held the new record. Co-drivers Alex Premat, Caruso and James Moffat proved tough contenders, staying competitive amongst Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen during an incident free couple of hours. 

The race was on track for a record finish time until lap 101, when Todd Hazlewood hit the wall at Reid Park to bring out the second safety car. He watched the last few laps of the race from Bathurst Base Hospital, where he was taken as a precaution after the crash. He has since been cleared of serious injury. 

No sooner had the race restarted then the safety car was deployed again – this time on lap 112 after the Kostecki Brothers found trouble again at Reid park. 

One of the biggest moments of the race came on lap 124 when Tickford Racing driver Chaz Mostert locked up his car at the Chase, sending both himself and teammate Cameron Waters into the gravel. Waters was in third and Mostert fourth at the time, and both were tracking towards a potential podium finish. Mostert was handed a pit lane penalty for the infringement but recovered to finish in 16th, while Waters suffered more damage and was the final car to cross the line in 21st. 

Anton De Pasquale was the mountain’s next victim. After suffering engine issues during a pit stop, which saw the Erebus crew push him down pit lane to the garage, the throttle of car 99 jammed. It sent De Pasquale flying into the wall at the top of the mountain, and the safety car was deployed once again. 

With 30 laps remaining Whincup led from McLaughin, Fabian Coulthard, Andre Heimgartner, James Golding, Rick Kelly, van Gisbergen, Will Davison, Lee Holdsworth and Garry Jacobson.

The Walkinshaw Andretti United wildcard was on track to finish the race until it spun off into the gravel at Murray’s Corner. It was a sad end for Indycar drivers Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe, and it was soon followed by a collision between cars 3 and 33 on turn one. The safety car was deployed and pit lane lit up once again as most of the cars needed more fuel to remain in the race. Whincup was forced to go in, but McLaughlin stayed out, having just enough fuel to finish the race. Coulthard slowed his drive down pit lane ahead of van Gisbergen. The move sent fourth placed van Gisbergen into a rage, as he was set to benefit from a stop that would be around ten seconds faster than his competitors. Coulthard was awarded a pit lane penalty. 

With five laps remaining, McLaughlin led from van Gisbergen, Courtney, Whincup and David Reynolds. It seemed smooth sailing, but the mountain had other plans, with one more safety car to help determine the result of the race. 

FINAL RESULTS: 

1. McLaughlin/Premat
2. Van Gisbergen/Tander
3. Courtney/Perkins
4. Whincup/Lowndes
5. Reynolds/ Youlden
6. Coulthard/D’Alberto
7. Winterbottom/S. Richards
8. Pye/Luff
9. R. Kelly/Wood
10. Holdsworth/Randle
11. W. Davison/A. Davison
12. Golding/Muscat
13. Stanaway/Pither
14. De Silvestro/Rullo
15. Percat/Blanchard
16. Mostert/Moffat
17. Jones/Canto
18. Le Brocq/Webb
19. Rossi/Hinchcliffe
20. Jacobson/Fiore
21. Waters/Caruso

DNF: Heimgartner/Fullwood

DNF: De Pasquale/Brown

DNF: B. Kostecki/J. Kostecki

DNF: Hazlewood/Smith

DNF: Slade/Walsh.