Motorsport: Scott McLaughlin wins again as Kiwis complete Supercars podium

Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin. Photo / Photosport

There may not be many Kiwis in the Supercars championship but yet again this year, it was an all-New Zealand podium at round four of the series at Phillip Island.

Scott McLaughlin continued his seemingly imperious march towards a second Supercars title by winning today's race and extending his lead to 136 points over Shell V-Power Racing team-mate Fabian Coulthard, who finished second. Fellow Kiwi Andre Heimgartner rounded out the podium.

"For the team, it was a great day," said McLaughlin. "It was a massive start to the race with Fabs [Fabian Coulthard] and me trying to get the advantage into turn one. It's great for the team that we race hard together but give each other respect.

"Unreal, it's great for the team, one-two, we just sort of controlled the race from the start.

"It's awesome to get a win here again, I love this place. We're having a really strong season and we just have to keep focused and I'm really proud of everyone.

"It was a battle towards the end, as it was a bit of a struggle with the tyres and we managed to keep it all good and stay off the kerbs so I didn't damage the tyres."

A number of cars suffered tyre issues, chief among them James Courtney and Tim Slade having delaminating tyres.

Heimgartner was thrilled to pick up the first solo podium of his Supercars career.

"I'm unbelievably happy for the team," he said. "It's been a hard start to the year and it was great to consolidate [on the podium] the speed we've had so far this weekend.

"It's my first podium by myself and it's a big tick off the list. It gives me a lot of confidence knowing I can now do it [finish in the top three] and it's a thanks to all the people who have had faith in me."

One of the bigger stories from race one at Phillip Island was the continuing pit stop dramas hanging over the Triple Eight race team. Jamie Whincup's struggle to reassert himself in the championship received another knock when his front right wheel nut wasn't seated correctly during the pitstop. He was subsequently told by his pit crew to park the car after the wheel came off and he has dropped to seventh on the points table.