At the half way mark in the Virgin Australia Supercars championship DJR/team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin holds a slim six-point lead in his quest to become the third New Zealand-born driver to win the title.
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The 24-year-old from Christchurch has been in brilliant form this year.
He has scored nine pole positions in fourteen races with five race wins and four second places to lead six-time champion Jamie Whincup in the Red Bull team Holden.
Qualifying has been a major strength of the Shell V Power Ford driver with twelve front-row starts which have then been converted to great race results.
McLaughlin has finished every race and has only finished outside the top ten on three occasions.
The first occasion was at the first race in the opening round in Adelaide.
He looked set to be on the podium only to be given a penalty for weaving behind the safety car which put him out of contention with a 17th place finish.
A significant part of his success has come from the resurgent DJR/Penske team effort to the point where they are now the team to beat even though it’s only their third year in the championship.
The other major part of McLaughlin’s success can be attributed to his new engineer, Ludo Lacroix, who moved to the DJR/Penske from Red Bull Racing to originally engineer Craig Lowndes.
This year the 52-year-old Frenchman was teamed up with McLaughlin and it’s a partnership that has really gelled despite some early issues with communication between driver and engineer.
In contrast, second-placed Whincup has only recorded one pole position and one win for the season so far.
However, apart from the second race at Phillip Island, where he finished a lowly 18th after tyre issues, he has been the model of consistency.
Included in his points tally of 1602 have been six second places and three thirds so he has been on the podium ten times.
Third-placed Fabian Coulthard in the second DJR/Penske Ford is 158 points behind his team mate.
Coulthard had a shocker at the last round in Townsville where he surrendered the championship lead that he had held for the past eight races.
He has only scored one pole position and three wins with two seconds and two thirds, so next week’s round at Queensland Raceway, which is the team’s nominated test track, will be a critical opportunity to get his championship hopes back on track.
Defending champion Shane Van Gisbergen in the second Red Bull Holden is in fourth place, 231 points behind McLaughlin with three wins to his credit but other consistent results.
At this stage it would be reasonable to assume one of these four will win the championship.
GUARDIAN ANGEL
With head protection so critical in Formula One, the Grand Prix Drivers Association has expressed support for the FIA decision to introduce the halo device from next year.
The halo device is similar to a mini roll-cage fitted around the cockpit that is designed to protect drivers not only from injury in a rollover, but also to give some protection from flying debris, a crucial consideration after the death of two Formula Two drivers and Felipe Massa’s skull fracture.
Only one team supported the introduction of the device but the FIA used its power of veto over safety matters to push the decision through.
The halo was originally conceived and designed by the Mercedes Benz team and was then further developed by the FIA who carried out extensive testing with the teams.
The halo got the nod over the shield arrangement that appeared in practice for the British GP on Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari, but he only did one lap after complaining that it distorted his vision and made him dizzy.
GPDA chairman Alexander Wurz said that drivers always support moves by the FIA to improve safety even if they are aware that the halo device is controversial.