Scott McLaughlin with his Polestar Volvo scored their first win since Perth in May this year and a second win for the year. With a complete engine replacement between races on Saturday followed by losing an unfixed wheel, the young Kiwi driver and his swede engineered race car worked its way from a bad race day to a victory on Sunday.
It was Volvo’s first win at Sydney Motorsport Park as the 21-year-old just made it home on fading tyres with Percat looming large. In the drive of his career Percat stalked McLaughlin in the closing stages. McLaughlin was nursing some tyre damage as his young rival gradually pecked back tenths of seconds lap by lap.
The South Australian 25-year-old, a Bathurst winner with Garth Tander in 2011 and a best finish of fourth in Townsville this year, scored his first podium as a single driver, reinforcing his coming of age. He spent two seasons as a co-driver, Dunlop Series pilot and last year driving a Porsche in the Carrera Cup, honing his skills for a fulltime return to Walkinshaw Racing. The Championship now heads to the PIRTEK Enduro Cup, where teams will adopt co-drivers to complete the long distance races.
