Kiwi Scott McLaughlin produced a flawless drive to win the opening race of the latest Supercars event in Townsville.
The two-time defending series champion was the effecrive leader for the entire 39-lap sprint race, beating Tickford's Cam Waters to the flag by 3.4897 seconds to extend his championship lead.
Championship rival Jamie Whincup recovered well from seventh on the grid, coming home fourth behind Holden's Chad Mostert.
But it ws a day to forget for 2016 series champion Shane van Gisbergen, who had threatened McLaughlin's dominance through the first 21 laps after starting second.
But the Kiwi suffered power steering failure and retired with 18-laps to go, all-but ending his fading title challenge, finishing the day 499 points behind his fellow New Zealander.
The win marked McLaughlin's tenth of the season, and second in a row folowing another commanding effort at the same track six days ago.
"We had a great qualifying car which we worked on all this morning, but we didn’t touch the race car at all from last week,"he said. “It bodes well for tomorrow.”
McLaughlin's series lead sits at 143 points from Whincup, with Mostert third.
Two more 39-lap races are scheduled for Sunday.
