McLaughlin makes Supercars history in Ford Mustang

Scott McLaughlin
Scott McLaughlin

Scott McLaughlin has christened the Ford Mustang with its first race win in Supercars history with a spanking of the field in the Superloop Adelaide 500.

The reigning Champion capitalized on a perfect start from third on the grid and was not headed in a safety car free race, crossing the line a whopping 12.9 seconds ahead of Jamie Whincup with the second Red Bull Holden of Shane van Gisbergen in third.

It was a dominant start for the first Mustang to compete in Supercars and the first in 30 years. His current Shell V-Power co-owner Dick Johnson was the first winner on the streets of Adelaide in a Mustang in 1985 in a non-Championship race.

“I am just stoked for Ford Performance and the Ford fans, it was awesome to bring the Mustang back in and I am really looking forward to the year," McLaughlin said.

“That’s one for the Ford fans, first for the Mustang, we are here to party. It’s a great start. We don’t have number one on the door this year but we are one today."

McLaughlin's victory was the 26th of his career, first in Adelaide and the Mustang's first Australian touring car Championship race win since Allan Moffat's victory at Oran Park in 1972.

The Start
The Start

Mustangs filled four of the top six places, even with a penalty for polesitter Fabian Coulthard, in a race run in searing conditions without a Vodafone Safety Car.

Like McLaughlin, Whincup was untroubled throughout in maintaining second while Van Gisbergen had the occasional stoush without being too threatened.

The drive of the day from a team perspective went to Will Davison in the Milwaukee Racing Mustang which switched this year to Mostert’s Tickford Racing outfit, finishing fourth.

“I was reasonably happy with that," Whincup said. “No-one was touching Scotty today. We will go away, do some homework and see if we can get better for tomorrow."

Chaz Mostert, in the Supercheap Auto Racing Mustang, looked to have one of the fastest cars on track but made some errors attempting to pass which may have cost him a podium place.

McLaughlin’s Shell V-Power stable mate Fabian Coulthard had a challenging day after starting from ARMOR ALL Pole Position, starting with a ten second penalty for jumping the start. He fought all race after that to finish sixth.

Youngster Cameron Waters was the first casualty of the oppressive Adelaide heatwave when his cooling system failed just a few laps in. He soldiered through until his team decided to bring him into the pits and change the system, although Waters said he was still in good shape.

Waters returned once the failure was fixed chasing points having dropped more than 10 laps behind the leaders.

Holden drivers filled the next four places, led by Brad Jones Racing's Nick Percat.

David Reynolds took eighth, ahead of new IRWIN Racing driver Mark Winterbottom and James Courtney. The best of the Kelly Racing Nissans was Rick Kelly in 11th, just ahead of team-mate Andre Heimgartner.

Every session of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship is broadcast live in high definition on Fox Sports within Australia.

Results

POS # DRIVER TEAM TIME
1 17 McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team 1:48:02.464
2 88 Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Australia +12.965
3 97 Van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Australia +13.954
4 23 Davison Monster Energy Racing +14.943
5 55 Mostert Supercheap Auto Racing +17.571
6 12 Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team +22.290
7 8 Percat Brad Jones Racing +33.279
8 9 Reynolds Erebus Motorsport +33.772
9 18 Winterbottom Preston Hire Racing +49.366
10 22 Courtney Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing +55.970
11 15 Kelly Nissan Motorsport +1:03.340
12 35 T. Hazelwood Bigmate Racing +1:04.308
13 7 Heimgartner Nissan Motorsport +1:05.846
14 34 J. Golding Wilson Security Racing GRM +1:08.681
15 78 S. De Silvestro Nissan Nismo +1:10.583
16 99 A. de Pasquale Erebus Motorsport +1:20.111
17 14 Slade Brad Jones Racing +1 Lap
18 33 R. Stanaway Wilson Security Racing GRM +1 Lap
19 3 G. Jacobson Nissan Nismo +1 Lap
20 19 J. Le Brocq TEKNO Woodstock Racing +1 Lap
21 5 Holdsworth The Bottle-O Racing Team +6 Laps
22 6 C. Waters Tickford Racing +14 Laps
NC 2 S. Pye Mobil 1 Boost Mobile Racing +53 Laps