Scott McLaughlin has done what few have been able to , and score a hat-trick for the Supercars Championship. The young gun scored his 3rd Supercars Championship in a row with a points lead of over 300 ahead of his nearest rival.
McLaughlin has become only the fourth driver in the 60 year history of Australian tour car racing to win three straight titles and shares the glory with Ian Geoghegan (1966-69), Mark Skaife (2000-2002) and Jamie Whincup (2011-14).
The Shell V-Power Racing team champion has easily been the dominant force for the entire last three seasons. He’s been way ahead of the competition, and in fact was so far ahead on points, that he sealed his title ahead of the Bathurst 1000. Only a major disaster or DNF status would have blown his chances and luckily that didn’t happen.
“It’s awesome, credit to everyone at Shell V-Power Racing. It feels weird not being able to celebrate with the fans like normal,” McLaughlin said.
Scotty now leaves the Supercars to start a new career in USA driving for Team Penske in the Indy Car Series starting from the 2021 season. The post below from his Facebook page shows his excitement and readiness ..
I’m ready.
Posted by Scott McLaughlin on Sunday, October 18, 2020
In the meantime, there are also congratulations for Shane van Gisbergen who claimed the 2020 Bathurst 1000 for Red Bull Holden Racing and becomes the new is the new King of the Mountain.
It’s a definite fairy-tale ending for Holden given their final year at Mount Panorama and SVG’s first win at the historic circuit, after finishing second in 2019.
It was a slow start for the 31-year-old racer, however once he grabbed hold after some light rain, he held onto first place for a good 120 laps!
“It’s just awesome, the last few laps were really tough with the safety cars,” Van Gisbergen said after his win. “The team did a great job and the car got better all weekend. It’s a great way to send out Holden.
Equal recognition should go to Cam Waters who gave the fight of his life to hold onto SVG and challenge him all the way to the finish line. Waters’ Monster Energy mustang was in fine form and for at least the final 60 laps his speed and his lap times were equal to SVG. However Waters couldn’t find the right place to pass. He definitely had the speed, but not the opportunity.
Overall, the Mountain held onto it’s legend of thrills and spills where anything goes each year right up to the final few rounds where a winner emerges.
It won’t be the same without Scotty next year, however one thing is for sure, there will always be a rivalry which moves from Ford vs Holden through 2021 to Mustang vs Camaro in 2022!
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