SCOTT McLaughlin’s full-time Supercars Championship career is over – well at least for some time to come as he embarks on his new IndyCar career – allowing us a chance to stop and have a look at where he now sits in the record books of the Australian Touring Car/Supercars Championship.
While comparing statistics of drivers from different eras is difficult and comes with plenty of caveats, the sheer fact remains that McLaughlin’s achievements over the last four years in particular have him sitting very high in a wide range of the lists of poles, podiums and wins.
Now a three-time Supercars Champion (one of only 10 drivers with three or more championships to his name), McLaughlin has left his mark on the record books.
Here’s just a snapshot of what he’s achieved and where he sits:
* Equal fourth on the list of most race wins in championship history. He’s now equal with Garth Tander on 56 wins given the Red Bull HRT pilot clawed one win back on the young Ford star at Bathurst this month. Jamie Whincup remains the record holder with 122 race wins followed by Craig Lowndes (110), Mark Skaife (90) and McLaughlin and Tander (56 each).
* To compare and contrast (and to show just how fast he has rocketed up the list) McLaughlin has won 48 races in the last four years since he joined DJR Team Penske. In the same period, Lowndes has won five, Whincup 18 and Tander two.
* He’s second to Whincup on the list of most poles (89 to 76). McLaughlin has taken 59 of his poles in the last four years – in that same time Whincup has taken just 16.
* He’s fifth on the list of podium finishes with 106. Whincup holds the record on 222, Lowndes next on 169 followed by Mark Winterbottom (117) and Shane van Gisbergen (116). McLaughlin has taken 80 of those podiums in the last four years. In comparison, Whincup has 56 and van Gisbergen 51 from the same period.
* McLaughlin is the first driver in championship history to turn his first championship win into three in a row.
* He set the record for most race wins in a championship season last year – 18 wins from a possible 29 races.
* He remains the youngest ever championship race winner – he was just 19 years, 10 months and three days in 2013 when he won at Pukekohe.
* He remains the youngest ever championship pole sitter – he was just 20 years, nine months and 27 days at Winton in 2014.
* He has the record for most pole positions in a season – 16 in 2017.
* The first driver to ever win the Darwin Triple Crown – it was introduced in 2006 but took until 2019 for McLaughlin to be the first driver to actually win it.
