Motorsport: Scott McLaughlin claims superb Supercars hat-trick at Darwin

Scott McLaughlin won all three Supercars races in Darwin over the weekend. Photo / Edge Photographic

Scott McLaughlin just keeps winning. On Saturday, the Kiwi star surpassed Peter Brock's tally of Supercars wins with his 49th on the track, and today, the 27-year-old added numbers 50 and 51.

McLaughlin was able to take back-to-back Sunday race wins at the Darwin SuperSprint, extending his already sizeable lead at the top of the championship standings.

After winning all three races at the weekend, McLaughlin has eight this season. Jamie Whincup and Nick Percat are tied for second with two wins each. McLaughlin now leads the standings by 177 points over Whincup, with Shane van Gisbergen 345 adrift of the lead in third.

"I love the track and I love it when my car is like that; that's probably the best car I've ever driven," McLaughlin said after today's final race.

"Just all weekend, it was so solid. We got a good start and then were able to use our tyres and what we wanted to do."

The two-time defending champion made a good start to the weekend's final race, taking the lead from the outside of the front row and never looking threatened.

Leading a fast-starting Percat and polesitter van Gisbergen in the opening laps, McLaughlin pitted immediately after Percat's lap-seven stop to protect his position.

He then went on to claim a 14-second victory over Percat, with Scott Pye rounding out the podium. Van Gisbergen finished fifth.

McLaughlin's scorching start was a feature of his racing over the weekend; getting away quickly, finding the lead and holding on to it.

Speaking of his strong starts, McLaughlin credited Shell V-Power teammate and fellow Kiwi Fabian Coulthard.

"Fabian, as a teammate, his starting is incredible and I've been able to really learn off of him over the last couple of years," McLaughlin said.

"He's still phenomenal on the starts; I'm trying to be just as good. We have a little comp in the team and he's absolutely smashing me, but if I got one back, I'm happy."

The Supercars Championship continues next weekend with the first of two consecutive events in Townsville.

Points standings

1. Scott McLaughlin 1324
2. Jamie Whincup 1147
3. Shane van Gisbergen 979
4. Chaz Mostert 972
5. Nick Percat 915
6. Cameron Waters 893
7. Mark Winterbottom 890
8. David Reynolds 872
9. Fabian Coulthard 862
10. Lee Holdsworth 845
11. Andre Heimgartner 714
12. Anton de Pasquale 704