Shane van Gisbergen and Jamie Whincup may be fighting it out for the Supercars championship at Pukekohe next weekend, but Scott McLaughlin will be having his own private battle.
The 23-year-old has his eyes firmly set on finishing third in this year’s championship and to do this he needs to overtake the veteran Craig Lowndes, which would also stop it being a Triple Eight Racing one-two-three in the final standings.
McLaughlin goes into the season’s penultimate round 76 points behind Lowndes, having closed the gap by 135 points at the Gold Coast last weekend.
Finishing third would be a fitting way for McLaughlin to end his time at Garry Rogers Motorsport before moving on to the big budget DJR Team Penske in 2017.
“I’m just racing Lowndes at the moment,” McLaughlin said.
“I knocked down that margin a fair bit in the Gold Coast, so we’ll see how we go.”
The best McLaughlin has finished in the championship is fifth in 2014 and the signs are looking good for him as his Volvo was the fastest car behind van Gisbergen and Whincup in Bathurst and Gold Coast.
But after the endurance rounds, it’s back to sprint races, with four of them at Pukekohe and it means it’ll come down to qualifying well and race pace to determine the finishing orders.
“There isn’t any strategy to mix things up. But at the end of the day it is what it is.
“I feel our strong point is on the hard tyres in qualifying, so if we can qualify at the front it’s going to make our lives a lot easier.”
With it being just sprints, there won’t be any refuelling of the cars mid races and the is a worry that they can become just a long procession, with cars unable to overtake each other.
“You’ve got to see what happens,” McLaughlin said.
“I think the cars are performing well for there to be overtaking.
“Some cars are overtaking better than others, so that’s going to help, but we’ll find out when we get there.”
While McLaughlin lives in Melbourne, his parents recently moved back from the Gold Coast to Mount Maunganui, and New Zealand remains a special place for him, therefore Pukekohe is one of the most important rounds of the season.
“I’m pretty pumped to get there, it’s my home race, there are a lot of fans over there and I’ll be coming with some pretty good form,” McLaughlin said.
“The car is quick and it’s normally quick around there too.”
“It’s just awesome with the fans. The track has also got so much character and it suits me down to a tee.
“It’s very much like a street track, but without the walls, so I’m looking forward to it.”
As for the other battle between van Gisbergen and Whincup, where the Kiwi holds a 148-point lead, McLaughlin feels the six-time champion isn’t going to give up easily.
“I think it’s going to be tight, Jamie’s not going to back down,” McLaughlin said.
“He’s fantastic in qualifying in the car, but Shane is going to have to try to step up too and grab some poles.
“Pukekohe is going to be interesting for everyone.”
