Virgin Australia Supercars Championship heads to Perth

Last weekend saw the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship head to Perth for the 2018 Perth SuperSprint with Shell V-Power Racing Team’s Scott McLaughlin looking for his third straight victory…

McLaughlin got off to the perfect start on Saturday morning, clawing his fifth ARMOR ALL Pole Position of the season, clocking a 54.6397s lap in the final minute of the final stage of the session.

Cameron Waters (Monster Energy Racing) joined McLaughlin on the front row of the grid with McLaughlin’s team mate, Fabian Coulthard starting in P3 and Mark Winterbottom (Bottle-O Racing Team) in P4.

Both Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore’s failed to make it through to the final session with Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup starting in P12 and P14.

McLaughlin dominated the opening race from start to finish, taking his third straight victory of the season after back to back victories at Philip Island two weeks ago.

Mark Winterbottom finished Race 11 in P2 while Shane van Gisbergen charged through the field in the final stages to claim the last step on the podium.

Sunday morning Brough grey skies and rain to what had been a fantastic opening two days.

That made for an interesting qualifying session which effectively looked like a reversal of the previous day.

Team mate’s Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup locked out the front row of the grid while Scott McLaughlin could only manage P19.

As Race 12 got under way the safety car was brought out after only four laps as Jamie Golding ended up in the gravel at turn one.

That prompted everyone apart from Will Davison to pit and led to a big shake up of the running order.

The 200km finale was full of action with the stewards having their work cut out for them post race.

In the end Scott McLaughlin managed to storm through the field to claim back to back victories in Perth.

David Reynolds (Erebus Penrite Racing) finished in P2 and Craig Lowndes (Autobarn Lowndes Racing) bought back from 25th and last on the grid to take P3.

Before Sunday, no driver had ever won at Barbagallo Raceway from lower than 12th on the grid, and that was 21 years ago.

McLaughlin’s victories in Perth mean that he now leads Shane van Gisbergen by 158 points in the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

Another action packed weekend of racing at Barbagallo Raceway and a reminder of why this series is so popular amongst motorsport fans.

The teams head on to Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria for the Winton SuperSprint to be held on 18-20 May 2018.