Winterbottom fine with McLaughlin move

A late move that saw Scott McLaughlin all locked up when diving down the inside of Mark Winterbottom’s car has the tick of approval from the defending Supercars champion.

On lap 96 of 102 in today's race at the Castrol Gold Coast 600, the Volvo driver had a big go at turn 11 for a podium finish with a spectacular save that nabbed him third position.

While Prodrive team boss Tim Edwards looked less than impressed, Winterbottom had no issues with the pass. His worry was that his Bottle-O Falcon didn’t have the pace. 

“I was sixth-tenths a lap slower, so you get what you deserve, really,” Frosty told supercars.com.

“It was alright. If I had’ve turned in I would’ve collected him but he’s having a crack – If I’m quick enough I want to race them the same way.

“It’s no drama, we’re just not quick enough, that’s the thing I’m frustrated about. So it’s alright, it’s all good.”

McLaughlin talked through the move in the post-race press conference.

“I got a really good gap through the chicane and I lined him up down to turn 11 there,” he said. 

“I went and he moved as I went and I had to adjust the car and then brake and that’s what fried everything up.

“I slammed it down to first gear and managed to pull it up which I felt it was clean on my part.

“Pretty ironic I was coming down the inside of some bloke after Bathurst but it was one of those things, I felt the move was on and I just had a go. Seriously I had a go and it was cool.”

McLaughlin joked he was “absolutely” in control of the car, a cheeky reference to the Jamie Whincup incident at Bathurst.

Winterbottom, meanwhile, believed he and Dean Canto could’ve won the race with enough pace.

“There’s a couple (of cars) that are there (ahead) and we are the next ones.

“We maximised it, we were second on the road – if we were quick enough we could’ve won the race.

“If those elements go together – you know you’ve done a good job and the team’s done the right strategies and the pit stops and all that stuff is where you need to be, it’s just that when it’s a sprit race to the end, you lose three or four spots it’s pretty clear where you’re at.

“I think we did a good job, we drove clean, Dean did a good job. The car’s straight, it’s just slow and it’s frustrating.”

Winterbottom was passed by Craig Lowndes two laps later and finished fifth with Canto.

Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell won the race, with teammates Shane van Gisbergen and Alex Premat second, ahead of McLaughlin and David Wall.