An emotional Scott McLaughlin has kept his promise to his late grandma by winning his maiden Supercars title.
The 25-year-old Kiwi finished second in yesterday's final race in Newcastle to claim the overall Supercars championship and finish 71 points clear of compatriot Shane van Gisbergen.
The weekend has been full of drama as van Gisbergen moved within two points of the championship lead following a win in race 30 on Saturday, overtaking McLaughlin on the last lap.
But van Gisbergen was later stripped of the win with a 25-second penalty dropping him to fifth, and making it a 53-point gap.
What made this year's win more special was the fact that the Shell V-Power driver entered the last race last year with a huge lead but three penalties - including one on the penultimate lap saw him miss out on the championship win, gifting the title to van Gisbergen's teammate Jamie Whincup.
McLaughlin struggled to hold back the tears as he dedicated the title to his grandmother, who missed away three years ago.
"Everyone here worked so hard," McLaughlin said.
"We have to pay respect to Shane, we raced so hard all year, it's been a hell of a battle.
"With 30 to go I thought 'this could be on' and it was the longest 30 laps of my life.
"Thank you to my mum and dad, and my gran. I know you're watching from up there because I promised you I'd do this.
"Holy smokes, I just can't believe we've done it. Holy guacamole."
Van Gisbergen was quick to praise McLaughlin for winning the title, but he was still seething after having Saturday's result overturned.
"We did everything we could. Congrats to them, they've been worthy competitors and worthy champions," van Gisbergen said.
"I've enjoyed the fight and am still proud, but it's a tough one. That race, I just got stuck behind James and couldn't do anything to get up there.
"I'm still happy, it's still cool, I just feel a bit gutted that the series did what they did. It's just inconsistent, it's average.
"I would have loved to have fought on equal points and had a bit more motivation, but we were pretty dejected today with all that."
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