Kiwi Scott McLaughlin has hit the ground running after the coronavirus shutdown, extending his lead atop the Supercars championship with his second win at Sydney Motorsport Park.
Carrying over a 27-point lead from the season's opening rounds in February, the two-time defending champion extended that with victory on Saturday and added a little more to his margin over Jamie Whincup with two more podium finishes on Sunday.
In race eight of the series - but only the fourth contested, after the Melbourne Grand Prix round was abandonned - McLaughlin started third on the grid and drove steadily to maintain that spot 33 laps later, trailling race winner Nick Percat by 16 seconds, with Whincup second.
A couple of hours later, he secured his third victory of the season, holding off Lee Holdsworth and Whincup in the final analysis.
McLaughlin seized a lead over Whincup in the opening lap and the pair covered each other through their mid-race pitstops, with the Kiwi easing away to an 11-point margin over his hearest championship rival.
Holdsworth provided the biggest challenge to McLaughlin's race lead, closing within 1.5s for his first podium finish since 2014. He rejoined the race in seventh after his lap-18 stop and worked his way into the second spot, passing Whincup on turn two.
"The car was so much better on its tyres that race," says McLaughlin. "I think when everyone sort of evened out with the tyres and where we were, to be able to show our true pace over the long run was really good."
Fellow Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen was again off the pace, finishing seventh and sixth on Sunday, after pushing McLaughlin all the way in Saturday's nailbiter.
The titleholder now holds a 49-point margin over Whincup, with van Gisbergen - runner-up to his compatriot over the past two season - 221 points behind in eighth.
Next stop for the series will see racers descend on Winton, Victoria, on July 18/19.
