First victory for Scott McLaughlin as new Ford Mustang wins Adelaide debut



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Scott McLaughlin started his championship defense on the Adelaide Street Circuit with a dominant victory in the first round of the 2019 Supercars Championship. The Kiwi took the lead in the beginning and never really threatened to win.

His McLaughlin teammate Fabian Coulthard took pole position in the top 10 with a time of 1: 19.892, three tenths of a second behind the winner of Triple Eight Race Engineering. Jamie Whincup.

At the start of the race, Coulthard left too early, while McLaughlin quickly passed third place on the grid. Whincup, Coulthard and McLaughlin crossed the first corner in Turn 1 with McLaughlin inside his Ford Mustang. .

The two cars of the DJR Team Penske were now 1-2, but it was soon confirmed that Coulthard should serve a ten second penalty at his first pit stop for his transgression at the start. The team voluntarily opposed the start on the 11th lap to allow him to regain ground with an alternative strategy to the rest of the pack.

Shane van Gisbergen, in the # 97 Holden Triple Eight, also outclassed teammate Whincup in the first round, but an aggressive turn on lap 14 allowed Whincup to take the lead, with the champion seven times showing more pace. his teammate and remained safe in front of the New Zealander for the rest of the race.

Just after the first pits, Lee Holdsworth, driven by Tickford Racing's Ford Mustang, turned around at turn 27 on the 27th lap and was recovered without being seen by Scott Pye of Walkinshaw Andretti Racing.

Both drivers were able to return to the pits, Holdsworth joining several laps after repair, while Holden Pye was out of the race, the driver criticizing the lack of yellow flag at the corner.

Officials did not seem to agree with the 29-year-old's point of view, accusing No. 2 driver Holden of being tested after the race for not respecting the yellow flags .

The next battle at the front was between Holden van Gisbergen and Chaz Mostert in the Tickford Ford Mustang. Mostert had a good pace as he got closer and fought Van Gisbergen's car shortly after the first lap.

Mostert stopped behind van Gisbergen on lap 40 and lost a spot against Will Davison (23Red Racing), but he quickly regained that position in the final pit run and then quickly found Van Gisbergen's Holden tail.

The 26-year-old pilot watched the back of Van Gisbergen's car for several laps before stopping again, this time on lap 4, on lap 50, and took the exit lane to rejoin Will Davison again. . This time, he would stay there until the end of the race.

McLaughlin continued his lead and won the race with 13 seconds of victory over Holden, while Van Gisbergen completed the podium in second place on the Triple Eight team.

Davison finished fourth in his Mustang ahead of Mostert, while Fabian Coulthard was back in sixth place in the second game of the DJR Team Penske Ford Mustang, after his penalty at the pit stop.

Nick Percat finished seventh in the best Holden Brad Jones Racing, while David Reynolds was ranked eighth in the Erebus Holden.

Mark Winterbottom was ninth, making his first appearance at the Supercars Championship at the wheel of a Holden, led by Charlie Schwerkolt Racing, while James Courtney's Walkinshaw Andretti Racing Holden completed the top ten.

The second race of the weekend will take place Sunday at 3:20 pm ACDT (05:50 CET).

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