Buoyed by eighth fastest time across yesterday’s three practice sessions at the Castrol EDGE Townsville 400, Wilson Security Volvo star Scott McLaughlin has broken his silence on his frustrating start to a year in which he was expected to challenge for the V8 Supercars drivers’ Championship.
And he admits the toughest run of his V8 Supercars racing career does have some silver linings in terms of both his personal and professional growth.
McLaughlin runs only 18th in the points race, a massive 592 points behind leader Mark Winterbottom. He boasts a best qualifying position of second way back on the opening race day of the Championship at the Clipsal 500 and a best race finish of only seventh.
A series of engine and power steering failures dogged his early-season progress, while the increased use of the hard tyre in 2015 events has proved a setup issue for the soft tyre-friendly Volvo S60 V8 Supercar.
This year’s setbacks represent the first sustained period of bad luck for McLaughlin, who was Dunlop Series Champion in 2012, won races in his first season in the main game at Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2013 and then was a star of the 2014 season in Volvo’s debut with fifth place in the Championship, five race wins and 10 ARMOR ALL Pole Positions.
“It’s been character building it’s fair to say,” McLaughlin told v8supercars.com.au this afternoon in Townsville. “We had a lot of good days last year, luck went our ways and we had some mega days and not many bad ones.
“I don’t know whether it’s swings and roundabouts that’s happening, but it’s just down a level this year.
“It’s probably been the best thing for us in some ways, especially for me, to put my head down in the tough times. I have always had a really good car since I have been in V8 Supercars. So being down the back and battling with other guys and learning racecraft has been good for me too.”
McLaughlin said the setbacks were all part of the learning process for him as both a professional racing driver and person.
“I have grown,” he said. “I have been coping with the setbacks. We had a couple of setbacks last year but it hasn’t been anything like this year and it is character building. It is something I have learned to swallow a bit better.
“I am very competitive so it is hard for me. It’s been awesome for me to see the team and everyone get behind me and work hard behind the scenes to fix the issues that (teammate) David (Wall) and I are talking about and come to the next round stronger.
“It has taught me a lot about moving on and getting on with the job. And taking every day as it comes and understanding that if it doesn’t go your way one day then one day we will get back to where we were and we will work hard to do that.”
McLaughlin, who is clearly a character who wears his emotions on his sleeve, says he is conscious of not behaving poorly in public when things go against him.
“I am too hard on myself and I think sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing. It’s just me. I have grown up wanting to be the best I can be and when I make a mistake or stuff like that I am pretty down myself. But it’s my way of moving on and getting on with it.
“I have always been told by my Dad (Wayne) if I am going to get angry with myself and tee off at myself then go into the truck where no-one can see me. Not saying I do it all the time, but when I am upset I definitely put on a brave face. I think I have learned from the best in that regards with Craig Lowndes and people such as that.”
McLaughlin said the S60 was showing promising form at Townsville as the car regained reliability and because the team had substantial hard tyre experience to draw on from last year at the Reid Park hybrid circuit. It has also been upgraded with further modifications to the power steering.
“Obviously when we had those engine dramas it didn’t allow us to develop the car the way we wanted to,” he said. “We were trying to fix that and that was our main priority; to finish a race.
“Now we have done that in the last couple of rounds we have been able to develop the car a bit more in the last couple of rounds and it’s starting to come back to me in regards to a bit more pace and being more often up that pointy end.”
