The CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown saw the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship title battle tighten with just 16 points separating the top three.
Read through our shortlist of contenders below and cast your vote for the CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown’s most impressive driver in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
Scott McLaughlin: (Race 11 Q: 2nd F: 2nd, Race 12 Q: 1st F: 1st)
The DJR Team Penske driver showcased his championship credentials by recording a near perfect weekend in the Top End.
McLaughlin is proving to be the king of extracting one lap pace from his Shell Ford after taking his seventh pole position of the season on Sunday. He was only 0.05s from bagging the Race 11 pole the day earlier.
His only blemish was an error that saw him run wide at Turn 1 while attempting to pass Rick Kelly for the lead in Saturday’s race.
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However, he managed to recover smartly from sixth to finish second behind team-mate Fabian Coulthard, before producing a faultless drive to his fourth victory of the year in Race 12.
McLaughlin has climbed to second in the standings just 10 points adrift of Coulthard.
Fabian Coulthard (Race 11 Q: 3rd F: 1st, Race 12 Q: 4th F: 4th)
Fabian Coulthard continues to be among the most consistent in the field helping him maintain his lead in the championship.
While unable to better his DJR Team Penske team-mate McLaughlin in qualifying, he produced a strong drive to victory in Race 11 after electing to pit much earlier than his rivals.
Coulthard kept the points rolling in on Sunday with a drive to fourth in the 200km heat.
He coped admirably under significant pressure from a train of cars armed with fresher rubber to claim the position.
Shane van Gisbergen (Race 11 Q: 5th F: DNF, Race 12 Q: 5th F: 3rd)
Darwin proved a character building weekend for the reigning champion who battled a balance issue with his Red Bull Holden Racing Team Commodore that baffled the team.
Although clearly frustrated by the problem, van Gisbergen qualified fifth and led Saturday’s race before suffering a right rear puncture.
He later retired with broken steering after a contact with Garth Tander and Jason Bright.
Still uncomfortable with the feel of his car, van Gisbergen showed his class to drive around the issue to qualify fifth, ahead of a run to a much needed third on Sunday.
Jamie Whincup (Race 11 Q: 9th F: 4th, Race 12 Q: 2nd F: 2nd)
The six-time champion extracted the best from his Red Bull Holden to keep the pressure on the DJR Team Penske duo of Fabian Coulthard and Scott McLaughlin in the championship.
Whincup recovered from a poor qualifying by his own standards on Saturday to climb from ninth to fourth.
The Red Bull Holden driver led portions of the Sunday race in a valiant attempt to score an elusive first victory of the season, but ultimately was left to settle for second.
David Reynolds (Race 11 Q: 4th F: 8th, Race 12 Q: 7th F: 7th)
David Reynolds continues to impress by challenging Supercars’ top teams in his Erebus Motorsport Holden.
The 31-year-old produced impressive one lap pace to qualify fourth and be the top Holden ahead of Saturday’s Race 11. He backed that up by securing a slot in the Top 10 Shootout the following day.
Reynolds emerged a podium contender in Race 11 before an electrical gremlin prompted a gear shift issue that dropped him to eighth.
He continued the form into Race 12 before his Commodore began to overheat in traffic, demoting him from fifth to seventh.
Nick Percat (Race 11 Q: 6th F: 3rd, Race 12 Q: 10th F: 15th)
Nick Percat recorded his sixth podium finish of his Supercars career and his first since joining Brad Jones Racing this year.
The triumph arrived following a challenging start to the campaign for the Albury squad who have being plagued by incidents and inconsistency.
Percat delivered in qualifying by netting sixth which he smartly converted to third after holding off Red Bull’s Jamie Whincup.
James Moffat (Race 11 Q: 13th F: 9th, Race 12 Q: 3rd F: 25th)
The Garry Rogers Motorsport driver starred in qualifying on Sunday by claiming his best grid slot since joining the team at the start of last season.
Moffat was challenging for a top five finish in the 200km encounter only to suffer a cruel right rear tyre failure with 12 laps remaining.
The 33-year-old had the measure of his more experienced team-mate Garth Tander throughout the weekend.
Rick Kelly (Race 11 Q: 1st F: DNF, Race 12 Q: 12th F: 10th)
The Nissan Motorsport driver ended DJR Team Penske’s run of six consecutive pole positions by coming through to edge Scott McLaughlin in qualifying for Race 11.
Kelly appeared to transfer his pace into the race but his hopes of a podium unravelled following a slow pit stop that saw him drop several spots.
A stuck throttle brought his race to an abrupt end in the Turn 10 tyre wall.
Kelly bounced back with a top 10 in Race 12.
Tim Slade (Race 11 Q: 8th F: 11th, Race 12 Q: 11th F: 5th)
Tim Slade enjoyed arguably his strongest weekend showing of the season, which included his best result of the campaign to date.
The 31-year-old was able to match the pace of championship leader Fabian Coulthard in Race 12 as he challenged for fourth in the final laps.
However, he was satisfied to climb from 11th to fifth, which was helped by a strategic decision to save fuel in the first stint.
It could have been a double top five finish. Slade slid from fourth to 11th in the space of a lap in the final stages of Saturday’s heat.
Scott Pye (Race 11 Q: 23rd F: 23rd, Race 12 Q: 16th F: 8th)
While Mobil 1 HSV Racing continues to struggle for car speed, Scott Pye was able to record the team’s first top 10 finish since the Clipsal 500 season opener.
Starting Sunday’s 200km encounter from 16th, Pye impressed during the second stint as his Commodore preserved rubber while making up spots.
Lee Holdsworth (Race 11 Q: 11th F: 10th, Race 12 Q: 6th F: 12th)
Returning to the scene of his mammoth shunt last year, Lee Holdsworth put the incident behind him by showing improved pace in his Preston Hire Commodore.
Holdsworth opened the weekend with a solid drive to 10th, before earning a spot in the Top 10 Shootout, which delivered his best qualifying display of the season in sixth.
However, he was unable to capitalise on the grid slot, finishing Sunday’s race in 12th position.
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