Scott McLaughlin claimed the Volvo S60’s maiden V8 Supercars victory in the final non-championship support race for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
The New Zealander started fourth and moved up to third ahead of Craig Lowndes on the opening lap.
He then passed struggling pole position starter Shane van Gisbergen, who had led from the start but lost the lead to Fabian Coulthard on the first lap as he grappled with a broken anti-roll bar, for second.
It was not long before McLaughlin was up front after passing Coulthard and he immediately took control of the race.
A safety car period, caused by Todd Kelly’s Nisaan stopping on track, did force McLaughlin to defend his position at a double-file restart, but he eventually won by over a second from Lowndes.
McLaughlin’s win in the double-points final race of the quadruple header event gave him overall victory for the weekend, even though van Gisbergen had won the first three races.
Lowndes ran fourth early on and followed McLaughlin past the fading van Gisbergen, who eventually finished 14th, and Coulthard.
Michael Caruso came through to finish third by the narrowest of margins after holding off Garth Tander on the line by three-thousandths of a second, with Coulthard dropping back to sixth by the finish.
Lowndes’ Triple Eight Holden team-mate Jamie Whincup did not make the finish after being wiped out along with James Moffat by the unfortunate Rick Kelly, whose Nissan had been clipped by another car in a jostling pack.
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