McLaughlin charges to Race 15 victory at QR

Scott McLaughlin extended his Supercars Championship lead after completing a comprehensive victory in Race 15 at the Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint.

The DJR Team Penske was made to work for his victory after losing out to Craig Lowndes at the start and after the pit stops.

However, McLaughlin managed to use the pace of his Ford to pass Lowndes for the lead twice in the race before charging to a comfortable victory.

Prodrive’s Chaz Mostert produced a solid drive to pass Brad Jones Racing’s Tim Slade in the closing stages to claim second.

A charging Shane van Gisbergen snatched third with a final lap pass on Slade.

Lowndes was unable to maintain his early pace as he dropped to fifth.

McLaughlin’s sixth win of the season has seen him open up a 111 point lead over Jamie Whincup, who finished 20th after being hampered by a five-place grid drop and a long pit stop.

Lowndes managed to get the jump on the start to lead McLaughlin to Turn 1 while Mostert slotted into third ahead of Slade.

There was plenty of jostling for position behind before the race’s first incident at Turn 3.

Dale Wood made contact with James Moffat which turned the Garry Rogers Motorsport driver around.

Alex Rullo made side-to-side contact with Simona de Silvestro to avoid Moffat, suffering terminal damage to his front left.

The incident was the subject of a stewards investigation.

At the front Lowndes’ lead was short-lived as McLaughlin slid by at Turn 3 on the third lap.

Lowndes elected to pit for fuel and two rear tyres at the end of the following lap which saw Mostert inherit second from Slade and Mark Winterbottom.

Team-mate Whincup, who started 14th after a grid drop, pitted soon after but an air spike failure saw him lose 10 seconds in the stop dropping him down the order.

McLaughlin opened up a 2.4s lead over Mostert before ducking into the pits for four tyres.

He would re-emerge behind Lowndes for an effective second but the Ford driver soon found his way by the veteran.

The battle for the podium took a twist as Slade jumped Mostert in the pits to emerge in net third ahead of Rick Kelly and Winterbottom.

Slade, who took on rubber on the left front and rear, continued his charge by passing Lowndes at Turn 6.

Lowndes soon fell into the clutches of Mostert, who also managed to pass the Triple Eight driver.

Meanwhile, van Gisbergen, Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard chose to go for a long first stint with the leader choosing to pit on lap 21.

He rejoined in an effective eighth while Coulthard slotted into 16th position.

Van Gisbergen and Coulthard, armed with fresher tyres, began to charge through the field to move into seventh and 13th respectively.

At the front, McLaughlin maintained his impressive pace while Slade lost out to Mostert at Turn 6 in the battle for second 10 laps from the finish.

Behind, van Gisbergen and Coulthard’s strong late pace showed no sign of abating as the pair climbed to fourth and sixth.

There was no stopping McLaughlin as he took the win from Mostert, while van Gisbergen took third with a final lap pass on Slade at Turn 4.

Lowndes finished fifth ahead of title contender Coulthard.

Nick Percat came home in seventh for Brad Jones Racing as Rick Kelly (Nissan Motorsport), Winterbottom (Prodrive) and David Reynolds (Erebus Motorsport) completed the top 10.

Mobil 1 HSV Racing missed out on the top 10 with Scott Pye 13th and James Courtney in 14th spot.

Jack Le Brocq emerged as the top wildcard finisher in 19th ahead of Red Bull’s Whincup, Tim Blanchard and Matt Stone Racing wildcard Todd Hazelwood.

Rullo and Jason Bright were the only cars to retire from the race which ran without a Safety Car.

Moffat returned to the race after a spell in the garage while Simona de Silvestro suffered a right front puncture in the final laps, dropping the Nissan driver to 27th.

Results: Virgin Australia Supercars Championship: Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint: Race 15

Championship points