New Zealand Supercars driver Scott McLaughlin is doing his utmost to steer people toward the inquiry, “Jamie Who?” so far as this year’s Supercars competition is concerned.
He produced a stunning drive in the recently contested Perth Supersprint, a drive some may consider a career-defining one, as he came from the 19th spot on the grid to take a phenomenal victory.
No driver has ever come from so far back in the grid in Perth. The old mark belonged to Peter Brock in 1978 and Larry Perkins in 1997. Both of those drivers started from the 12th slot.
McLaughlin now finds himself at the top of the Supercars ladder after notching his fourth consecutive win in 2018.
“I’m stoked. I couldn’t believe it. These guys just gave me an unbelievable car and the strategy was on point,” McLaughlin said.”We made it difficult for ourselves but brought it back.” I joked to DJ [Dick Johnson] before we went out and said ‘I reckon we can win this thing’.Sort of deep down I was like ‘maybe’, but I didn’t bloody think I was going to do it.”
Some say the key to success is managing expectations, so McLaughlin was able to drive the race from the perspective of a man with nothing to lose.
He is accustomed to starting on the pole, as he did in the previous three races, all of which he won rather comfortably.
Unlike some drivers, McLaughlin copped to stuffing up his qualifying efforts, but was able to drive through the 18 in front of him for his 21st career win.
Although it is typically not good strategy to start near or at the back of the grid, it worked to McLaughlin’s benefit because he missed out on some incidents that took place in front of him to the extent that he was able to move up seven spots in the race after just two laps.