McLaughlin and Percat claim wins on two-race day in Sydney

Nick Percat
Nick Percat

Supercars roared back to life in a big way this weekend and Nick Percat and Scott McLaughlin spoiled Jamie Whincup's 500th race party, claiming victories Sunday.

In a new-look three race format re-introduced as part of changes forced by COVID, Percat broke a four-year winless drought by overtaking Whincup in the dying stages of today's opening race.

In the opening race of the day, both Percat and Whincup were celebrating milestones: Whincup's career race 500 and Percat's career race 200.

The win also broke a four year winless drought for Percat's Albury-based team, Brad Jones Racing.

McLaughlin extended his Virgin Australia Championship lead with victory in the second and final race of the day at the BP Ultimate Sydney SuperSprint.

After starting from pole, McLaughlin held off Whincup heading into turn one and opened an unassailable lead, with a perfect tire strategy allowing the two-time defending Supercars Champion to run away for his third race win of 2020.

It capped off a successful weekend for McLaughlin, who ended with two ARMOR ALL Pole Positions, two race victories and a third placing behind Percat and Whincup.

Behind McLaughlin on the podium in this afternoon's race was Ford's Lee Holdsworth, Whincup was third.

McLaughlin notches another win in final race of weekend
McLaughlin notches another win in final race of weekend

Today's weekend capped off a successful return to racing for Supercars after 15 weeks' out of action.

There were no major crashes and the new-look format proved a winner with teams, who were limited to relying on engineering data between races.

The only driver who had a major issue today was McLaughlin's Shell V-Power teammate Fabian Coulthard, who's Mustang broke down in the dying stages of this afternoon's race.

Percat stopped and transported Coulthard back to pit lane.

The results of this weekend mean McLaughlin now leads the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship by 49 points heading into next month's next round.

MCLAUGHLIN QUOTE:
“Overall, it was a solid day and the outcome was exactly what we wanted. Our qualifying pace was right there all weekend, and I felt really comfortable with the car. We just had to make it better across the race run compared to yesterday, which we did.

“I think we did a really good job with the car with regards to tyres. I couldn’t really look after them that well yesterday but we put a few thought processes into it and it went well today. The car was an absolute dream to drive in that last race."

Results Sunday Race 2

POS # DRIVER TEAM TIME POINTS
1 8 Percat Dunlop Super Dealer Racing 50:14.125 100
2 88 Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team +3.181 92
3 17 McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team +16.447 86
4 25 Mostert Mobil 1 TM Appliances Online +19.769 80
5 9 Reynolds Penrite Racing +21.962 74
6 6 C. Waters Monster Energy Racing +23.046 68
7 97 Van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team +23.503 64
8 18 Winterbottom IRWIN Racing +24.372 60
9 44 Courtney Boost Mobile Racing +28.984 56
10 7 Heimgartner NED Whisky Racing +33.570 52
11 20 S. Pye DEWALT Racing +37.596 48
12 99 A. de Pasquale Penrite Racing +38.526 46
13 5 Holdsworth Truck Assist Racing +39.181 44
14 55 J. Le Brocq Supercheap Auto Racing +39.362 42
15 12 Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team +43.012 40
16 3 M. Jones Team CoolDrive +49.858 38
17 19 A. Davison Local Legends Racing +53.312 36
18 14 T. Hazelwood Brut Military Grade +54.060 34
19 15 R. Kelly Castrol Racing +56.802 32
20 2 B. Fullwood Mobil 1 TM Middy's Racing +57.582 30
21 35 G. Jacobson Yellow Cover Racing +1:00.121 28
22 22 C. Pither Team SYDNEY +1:05.837 26
23 4 J. Smith SCT Motor Sports +1:13.797 24
24 34 J. Kostecki UNIT Racing +1 Lap 22

Results Sunday Race 3

POS # DRIVER TEAM TIME POINTS
1 17 McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team 50:20.268 100
2 5 Holdsworth Truck Assist Racing +1.520 92
3 88 Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team +11.251 86
4 9 Reynolds Penrite Racing +24.428 80
5 18 Winterbottom IRWIN Racing +25.647 74
6 97 Van Gisbergen Red Bull Holden Racing Team +26.517 68
7 99 A. de Pasquale Penrite Racing +26.950 64
8 14 T. Hazelwood Brut Military Grade +27.129 60
9 8 Percat Dunlop Super Dealer Racing +27.997 56
10 2 B. Fullwood Mobil 1 TM Middy's Racing +28.749 52
11 55 J. Le Brocq Supercheap Auto Racing +31.859 48
12 20 S. Pye DEWALT Racing +35.647 46
13 6 C. Waters Monster Energy Racing +36.859 44
14 44 Courtney Boost Mobile Racing +37.462 42
15 7 Heimgartner NED Whisky Racing +40.623 40
16 25 Mostert Mobil 1 TM Appliances Online +43.754 38
17 15 R. Kelly Castrol Racing +46.657 36
18 4 J. Smith SCT Motor Sports +47.015 34
19 35 G. Jacobson Yellow Cover Racing +48.063 32
20 3 M. Jones Team CoolDrive +49.400 30
21 19 A. Davison Local Legends Racing +49.829 28
22 34 J. Kostecki UNIT Racing +50.596 26
23 22 C. Pither Team SYDNEY +1:17.383 24
NC 12 Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team +39.137 0