Scott McLaughlin wins Supercars title after dramatic Newcastle finale
Related Story: He thought he'd narrowed the title race, but SVG was stripped of Supercars win the morning after
Ford's Scott McLaughlin has claimed his maiden Supercars championship following a drama-filled final round in Newcastle, which saw Shane van Gisbergen stripped of his win in the opening race.
New Zealand's McLaughlin finally put to rest his 2017 last-round heartbreak by sealing the title with a second placing behind Holden's David Reynolds in the 95-lap season finale on Sunday.
Holden's van Gisbergen finished fourth in the 250-kilometre event, ensuring McLaughlin won the championship by 71 points.
Van Gisbergen was behind the eight-ball from the outset on Sunday, as he tried to reel in McLaughlin's series lead and claim a second Supercars title.
The 2016 champion suffered a blow when he was stripped of his dramatic Saturday race win, and relegated to fifth after a stewards investigation.
Van Gisbergen's Holden team was sensationally found guilty of a pitlane refuelling breach before he reeled in McLaughlin — who was running out of fuel — on the final lap to claim Saturday's 95-lap event.
The penalty announced on Sunday morning extended McLaughlin's series lead over his countryman from just two points to 53 before the last race.
McLaughlin only needed a top-six finish to hold out van Gisbergen and secure his first championship.
But McLaughlin knew only too well that it was easier said than done on Newcastle's tough 2.6-kilometre street circuit.
After last year's season finish in Newcastle, McLaughlin admitted he was at "the lowest point' of his career.
He only needed a top-11 finish in the final 2017 race to secure his first title and was in the box seat by claiming pole with a 78-point series lead.
But he suffered three penalties as Jamie Whincup came from the clouds to win a record seventh crown.
McLaughlin's triumph marks the seventh time a New Zealand driver has won the Supercars title.
It also provided a fitting farewell for the iconic Falcon with Ford teams switching to Mustangs next season, marking an end of an era.
But Supercars great Craig Lowndes's send-off did not go to plan.
In the final event of his 22-year full-time career, Lowndes finished 11th to place fourth in the championship.
Lowndes will return next year as a co-driver in the three endurance rounds.
Holden's Reynolds started Sunday's race on pole but McLaughlin nabbed the lead after the pit-lane frenzy that followed a safety car prompted by Whincup making contact with Ford's Fabian Coulthard on the final corner of lap 20.
McLaughlin let a fast-finishing Reynolds pass in the final 10 laps.
AAP
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