Scott McLaughlin (racing driver)

Scott Thomas McLaughlin (born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand professional racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He currently drives the No. 17 Ford Mustang GT for DJR Team Penske. He is the 2018 and 2019 series champion and 2019 Bathurst 1000 winner.

McLaughlin won his first race in the NZ Touring Car series in early 2011, becoming the youngest ever driver to win a race in the Championship at just 17 years old. Then in 2012 he competed in the New Zealand V8SuperTourers Championship and became the inaugural series champion.

McLaughlin achieved his first Supercars race win during his first full time season with Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2013, at Pukekohe Park Raceway. He is the youngest person to ever win in a Supercar.

Early life
McLaughlin was born in Christchurch, New Zealand but moved to Australia's Gold Coast at 9 years of age and attended Saint Stephen's College throughout his upbringing.

Karting
McLaughlin began driving karts when he was six and racing when we was seven, and represented New Zealand in the Rotax Max Challenge held in Italy, but had long aspired to race V8s, and was given a trial in one at Stone Brothers Racing while doing work experience there.

Dunlop Super2 Series
In 2010, McLaughlin confirmed that he would be racing for Stone Brothers Racing in the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at just 16 years of age, becoming the youngest ever V8 Supercar driver. He didn't make his debut until the second round of the series, due to him not having the appropriate competition licence.

McLaughlin won his first race in the series at Queensland Raceway in 2011 before going on to win the title in 2012.

V8 SuperTourer Series
McLaughlin drove a Holden VE Commodore in the 2012 season of the V8 SuperTourer Series. He won six races for MPC Motorsport on his way to becoming the inaugural series champion.

Supercars Championship
McLaughlin made his debut in the Supercars Championship at the Sandown 500 in 2012, as a co-driver to Jonathon Webb at Tekno Autosports. The pair performed well at both Sandown and Bathurst, finishing in tenth place at Sandown and in sixth place at Bathurst. McLaughlin also drove at the Sydney 500 for Garry Rogers Motorsport after Alexandre Prémat was forced out of the Sunday race due to extreme heat exhaustion the day before. McLaughlin was later signed by Garry Rogers Motorsport as a full-time driver for the 2013 season.

McLaughlin continued with Garry Rogers Motorsport into 2014, under its new identity as Volvo Polestar Racing (later Volvo Cyan Racing). At 1 March 2014, McLaughlin scored a podium finish in Volvo's return to the series at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide. Four race wins at Barbagallo, Sydney Motorsport Park, and 2 wins at Phillip Island. He finished 5th in the standings.

For 2017, McLaughlin moved from Garry Rogers Motorsport to DJR Team Penske to partner Fabian Coulthard. Throughout the year, McLaughlin was dominant in qualifying; acquiring 16 pole positions. Along with a string of strong results, McLaughlin would find himself in the box seat for a maiden championship title. After starting strongly in the final round at Newcastle, a chaotic second race saw McLaughlin pick up three penalties which would eventually contribute toward him narrowly missing out on the title to Jamie Whincup.

In 2018, McLaughlin continued to race with DJR Team Penske. He won seven out of the 34 races, winning in Melbourne, Phillip Island, Barbagallo, Hidden Valley and Ipswich. McLaughlin finished third at Bathurst alongside Alexandre Prémat in which was the Ford Falcon's final appearance at Mount Panorama. On 4 November, at Pukekohe Park Raceway, McLaughlin won race twenty-nine to join compatriot Shane van Gisbergen in winning the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy. In Newcastle, McLaughlin won race thirty (after van Gisbergen was stripped of his victory following a pit lane violation, demoting him to fifth) and finished second in race thirty-one to become the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars champion.

In 2019, DJR Team Penske debuted the Ford Mustang, which replaced the Falcon. McLaughlin was able to continue his dominance with the team, with 18 wins, which broke the record for most wins in a single year, 15 pole positions, 18 fastest laps, and 22 podiums to his name. He became the first ever driver to claim the Darwin Triple Crown, after winning the first race, claiming pole for the second race and winning the second race. On 13 October 2019. McLaughlin finally won Bathurst for the first time, with Alexandre Prémat as Scott's co-driver. Two weeks after this he had the biggest crash of his career, a 43g impact at the Gold Coast. He then had to drive a new car, due to chassis damage from the crash, for the last two rounds and was still able to successfully defend his championship title, with a round to go at Sandown.

IndyCar
In January 2020, he tested a Team Penske IndyCar at Sebring International Raceway. Team Penske driver Will Power hailed McLaughlin as a phenomenal driver after the test. On 5 February, Penske announced that McLaughlin will race a 4th Team Penske entry at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Supercars Championship results
(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Scandinavian Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)