Scott McLaughlin made progress in the opening day of the 2015 V8 Supercars season finale on the streets of Sydney, steering the Volvo S60 into the top five in the second race of the afternoon.
"A pretty good day, unfortunately we just didn't quite get it in qualifying. But we had really strong race pace and we were able to move up a couple of positions in each race," said McLaughlin.
The Kiwi young-gun climbed three positions to finish eighth in the first race having started from eleventh on the grid. Race two saw McLaughlin gain one position starting at sixth to cross the line in fifth place, and maintain eighth position in the drivers' championship.
"My starts were both really good. It's just the matter of trying to get the lap together in qualifying and put it in the top three, then there should be no dramas come tomorrow," said McLaughlin.
Team mate David Wall qualified a season best, claiming 13th on the grid for the first race.
"A much better day, especially qualifying-wise with 13th. Scott Pye moved me out into turn six of the first race over the tyre bundles and that basically ruined our track position. But I'm looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully we can qualify where we feel we should belong once again," said Wall.
The last race of the 2015 V8 Supercars season starts tomorrow at 15:45 local time, featuring a total of 74 laps.
Sydney 500 - V8 Supercars
Circuit: Homebush Street Circuit
Length: 3500 m
Lap record (V8SC): 1:28.3839, Craig Lowndes, 2011
Results
Race 34 - Top 5
1 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore 37 laps
2 Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore +1.0855
3 Jason Bright Holden Commodore +14.0367
4 James Courtney Holden Commodore +15.3602
5 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon +22.5070
…
8 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +24.7737
19 David Wall Volvo S60 +55.5281
Race 35 - Top 5
1 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore 37 laps
2 David Reynolds Ford Falcon +1.8208
3 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon +5.4817
4 James Courtney Holden Commodore +7.1248
5 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +8.0469
…
19 David Wall Volvo S60 +37.9652
Qualifying for Race 34 - Top 5
1 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon 1:27.7596
2 Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore +0.0938
3 James Courtney Holden Commodore +0.3006
4 Jason Bright Holden Commodore +0.3261
5 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore +0.3290
...
11 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +0.8414
13 David Wall Volvo S60 +0.9598
Qualifying for Race 35 - Top 5
1 Jamie Whincup Holden Commodore 1:27.6420
2 David Reynolds Ford Falcon +0.1327
3 Shane van Gisbergen Holden Commodore +0.1360
4 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon +0.1608
5 James Courtney Holden Commodore +0.1956
…
6 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 +0.3669
19 David Wall Volvo S60 +1.239
Championship Standings - Top 5
1 Mark Winterbottom Ford Falcon 3126 points
2 Craig Lowndes Holden Commodore 2906 (-220)
3 David Reynolds Ford Falcon 2799 (-327)
4 Shane Van Gisbergen Holden Commodore 2562 (-564)
5 Garth Tander Holden Commodore 2512 (-614)
...
8 Scott McLaughlin Volvo S60 2157 (-969)
24 David Wall Volvo S60 1064 (-2062)
TV Schedule
Australia: http://www.v8supercars.com.au/view/tv-schedule
International: http://www.v8supercars.com.au/v8live/schedule
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Greg Bosnich
Director, PR and Corporate, Volvo Car Australia
T: +61 2 9020 1673
M: +61 419 620 995
E: greg.bosnich@volvocars.com
volvocars.com.au