Scott McLaughlin's dominance has continued in the Supercars Championship, winning the opening night race at the Sydney SupoerSprint.
The Kiwi started on pole and overcome a rough start to come home ahead of Lee Holdsworth and Anto De Pasquale in a race dominated by tyre strategy.
McLaughlin opted to start the race on the slower hard compound, which dropped him down to fifth within two laps. But following an early pitstop for softs on lap 10, the Kiwi hit the front as his rivals struggled for grip once they made the move to the hard tyres.
McLaughlin’s ability to win the race despite only using one set of soft tyres leaves him well placed for a double on Sunday.
"It’s music to my ears," said McLaughlin of the tyre situation.
“Obviously I have got another set up my sleeve.
"We’ve got a lot of racing left to go but we stuck to our guns. We knew that people were probably going to try that strategy but we trusted our car speed."
Red Bull pair Janie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen struggled home in fourth and fifth, the latter agitated a potential race win was taken away by the rubber underneath him.
The Aucklander led the first 20 laps before his switch to hards for his second stint, and after rejoining in fourth, he didn't have the grip to recover.
Sunday will see two more 32-lap races, with Mclaughlin looking to extend his already imposing 75-point lead.
