Sydney Supercars: McLaughlin holds on in Sydney thriller

The two Kiwis staged a yo-yoing battle across the 32 laps, McLaughlin twice pulling a decent lead and then twice being reeled in.

The pole-sitter was electric in the opening laps of the race, scorching away from van Gisbergen and co. 

The lead blew out to as much as 3.5s before van Gisbergen – who had comfortably gapped teammate Jamie Whincup – started to make in-roads. He got as close as half a second before McLaughlin made a stop for four tyres on Lap 15.

Van Gisbergen opted to run longer, the Red Bull Holden driver not stopping until Lap 19. The undercut from others hurt, though, van Gisbergen emerging fifth in the order and more than 5s behind leader McLaughlin.

Four fresh boots made progress easy to come by, though, van Gisbergen swiftly working his way back into second. 

He then closed back up to McLaughlin with a few laps to go, the pair staging a thrilling nose-to-tail battle to the flag.

But while van Gisbergen seemed to have the pace, McLaughlin was flawless in defence as he held on for a 0.18s win.

“He’s like a cockroach, you can never get rid of him, he’s always around!," said McLaughlin.

“I knew I was going to be in a little bit of trouble in that last stint, the way he came at me in the first.

“So we’ve got a bit of work to do with how we tune it up but you take them when you can get them.

“It was tough in those last five laps but I did the best I could. It was great race.”

Van Gisbergen, meanwhile, was left to rue aero wash.

“It was a pretty decent race but every time you get close, the aero wash is ridiculous, so I couldn’t do much with it,” he said.

“We tried to go long and have a better chance at the end but we could him and it just understeered. It’s hard to pass, we need to try something different tomorrow.”

Whincup held off an early challenge from Chaz Mostert to round out the podium, with the Walkinshaw Holden driver coming home a somewhat lonely fourth.

Nick Percat was a solid fifth after overhauling Tickford pair Cam Waters and Lee Holdsworth, who only opted for two tyres during their stop.

Anton De Pasquale finished eighth, Mark Winterbottom ninth and Fabian Coulthard 10th. 

Race results:

Cla	Driver	Car	Time
1	Scott McLaughlin	Ford Mustang GT
2	Shane van Gisbergen	Holden Commodore ZB	0.187
3	Jamie Whincup	Holden Commodore ZB	9.775
4	Chaz Mostert	Holden Commodore ZB	11.075
5	Nick Percat	Holden Commodore ZB	28.328
6	Cameron Waters	Ford Mustang GT	30.798
7	Lee Holdsworth	Ford Mustang GT	31.755
8	Anton De Pasquale	Holden Commodore ZB	31.783
9	Mark Winterbottom	Holden Commodore ZB	32.670
10	Fabian Coulthard	Ford Mustang GT	35.238
11	Todd Hazelwood	Holden Commodore ZB	36.280
12	James Courtney	Ford Mustang GT	43.980
13	Bryce Fullwood	Holden Commodore ZB	43.990
14	Rick Kelly	Ford Mustang GT	48.283
15	Andre Heimgartner	Ford Mustang GT	48.439
16	Garry Jacobson	Holden Commodore ZB	50.844
17	Scott Pye	Holden Commodore ZB	51.059
18	Macauley Jones	Holden Commodore ZB	51.409
19	Jack Le Brocq	Ford Mustang GT	51.889
20	Chris Pither	Holden Commodore ZB	1'02.035
21	David Reynolds	Holden Commodore ZB	1'22.383
22	Jake Kostecki	Holden Commodore ZB	1'24.170
23	Jack Smith	Holden Commodore ZB	1 lap
	Alex Davison	Holden Commodore ZB
View full results