It’s not hard for Shell V-Power Ford Racing’s Supercars’ driver Scott McLaughlin to make news in the motorsport world having not only won both pole positions but going on to capitlse and win both races at the WD-40 Phillip Island 500 over the weekend. However, for Sydney motorsport fans the Australia Supercars Championship news is all about Jamie Whincup.
Supercars.com says:
“Scott McLaughlin described his double victory at the WD-40 Phillip Island 500 as a relief, making the most of a fast car to bank maximum points…..”
Speedcafe.com.au also describes the relief adding:
“(Scott) McLaughlin became the second driver to sweep a race weekend this season, and like Shane van Gisbergen in Adelaide he did so from pole in each 57-lap affair.”
Even motorsport.com gives McLaughlin the accolades:
“Scott McLaughlin made it a perfect 300 points at Phillip Island with an impressive second Supercars race win of the weekend”.
Yet the Sydney Morning Herald‘s headline was all about Jamie Whincup, and they don’t even mention the winner of both races, Scott McLaughlin :
“Whincup plummets to fifth in standings after Supercars disaster
Jamie Whincup is not panicking after a horror weekend at the Phillip Island 500 saw him slip back in the Supercars championship standings. The Red Bull Holden champion headed to Victoria in the lead, but leaves in fourth after a race one penalty stripped him of a podium finish.
He never got going on Sunday, finishing ninth in the second 250km race. Jamie Whincup is not panicking after a horror weekend at the Phillip Island 500 saw him slip back in the Supercars championship standings.
The Red Bull Holden champion headed to Victoria in the lead, but leaves in fourth after a race one penalty stripped him of a podium finish. He never got going on Sunday, finishing ninth in the second 250km race.
Whincup, the most decorated driver in Supercars history with seven titles, has belief he can respond with 12 events for the year still remaining. “We’ve got a good crew with an excellent car and a lot of components that are good right now, so we’ll regroup and move on from Phillip Island,” Whincup said. “It’s not our proudest result, but we worked hard and pushed as hard as we could. “We were miles back after Adelaide and got going again and now we’re miles back here so we’ll fight back.”
Whincup finished second in Saturday’s race, but his 38-second penalty for turning off his pitlane speed limiter proved extremely costly. It dropped him back to 14th, meaning van Gisbergen earned a podium with Nissan veteran Rick Kelly.
The severity of the penalty was unexpected, according to his Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton. “He saw the wrong cone, turned it off, realised his mistake, turned it back on,” Dutton told Supercars.com. “There was nothing underhand and that might not mean much to everyone, but to me it is a difference.”
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