Scott McLaughlin bagged a double podium finish for Volvo Polestar Racing on the first race day of the V8 Supercars weekend at Phillip Island.
”This has been a pretty awesome day and a really good start to the weekend for us. We had genuine pace today,” said McLaughlin.
The Kiwi qualified second for the first race and claimed pole position for the second. The first race saw McLaughlin finishing third, a position improved to second in the second race, shadowing race winner and championship leader Jamie Whincup.
”It was good to get another pole, my fifth this year. Unfortunately my starts are my biggest issue at the moment, but we will work on those. Hopefully we can have just a good of a result tomorrow,” said McLaughlin.
Team mate David Wall struggled in qualifying and the races, but hopes to improve for the final race tomorrow.
”We tried to make a little bit of a change for the first race but it was the wrong way. Second race the car was a lot better. But we got towed onto the straight pretty bad on that first lap and lost four spots. If we can qualify a bit better tomorrow, I feel like we have got a pretty reasonable race car to be able to race where we feel we should belong,” said Wall.
Tomorrow features qualifying and a final race of 45 laps compared to the double 14-lap races of today.
Phillip Island 400 – V8 Supercars
Circuit: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Length: 4445 m
Lap record (V8SC): 1:32.0246, Jamie Whincup, 2013
Results
Race 31
1 Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore 14 laps
2 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore +1.0388
3 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +1.7996
4 Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore +9.0226
5 James Moffat Nissan Altima +9.2834
…
23 David Wall Volvo S60 +33.9214
Race 32
1 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore 14 laps
2 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +1.2981
3 Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore +2.0816
4 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon +8.5779
5 David Reynolds Ford Falcon +9.2197
…
23 David Wall Volvo S60 +26.2117
Qualifying for Race 31 – Top 5
1 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore 1:31.0854
2 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +0.0903
3 Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore +0.1195
4 David Reynolds Ford Falcon +0.2430
5 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon +0.3731
…
20 David Wall Volvo S60 +1.2157
Qualifying for Race 32 – Top 5
1 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 1:30.7531
2 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore +0.0898
3 Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore +0.1392
4 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon +0.2124
5 David Reynolds Ford Falcon +0.2285
…
20 David Wall Volvo S60 +1.1620
Schedule
(Times in UTC +10h)
Friday 20/11
12:20 Practice 1 (60 min)
14:35 Practice 2 (60 min)
Saturday 21/11
11:10 Practice 3 (15 min)
12:45 Qualifying for Race 31 (10 min)
13:10 Qualifying for Race 32 (10 min)
15:10 Race 31 (14 laps)
16:55 Race 32 (14 laps)
Sunday 22/11
11:00 Practice 4 (15 min)
12:00 Qualifying for Race 33 (20 min)
14:10 Race 33 (45 laps)
Championship Standings – Top 5
1 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon 2887 points
2 Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore 2687 (-209)
3 David Reynolds Ford Falcon 2610 (-277)
4 Garth Tander Holden Commodore 2375 (-512)
5 Shane Van Gisbergen Holden Commodore 2371 (-516)
…
9 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 1919 (-968)
24 David Wall Volvo S60 956 (-1931)
TV Schedule
Australia: http://www.v8supercars.com.au/view/tv-schedule
Europe: http://www.motorstv.com
Sweden: http://www.viasat.se/sport/motor
International: http://www.v8supercars.com.au/v8live/schedule