SCOTT McLaughlin has no problems getting speed out of a Supercar at Mount Panorama and when he makes his GT3 debut at the Bathurst 12 Hour, you can expect him to be quick as well.
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On Friday at the Queensland Raceway, McLaughlin cut laps behind the wheel of the McLaren he will race in the February 2-4 Bathurst enduro.
McLaughlin – the man who clocked a scorching 2:03.8312 lap in last year’s Bathurst 1000 top 10 shootout – will drive the YNA Autosport McLaren for Queensland-based team McElrea Racing.
McLaughlin quickly acclimatised to the McLaren, having only driven Porsche GT3 Cup cars prior to Friday’s experience in the faster outright entry.
While the team did not report lap times, they did confirm that all drivers ‘lapped competitively’.
“It was good. Obviously just getting used to everything, it was the first time I’ve driven a car with traction control, ABS and that sort of stuff,” McLaughlin told Supercars.com.
“It was finding my preferences in that. I got to a point where I was pretty comfortable, still plenty to work on.
“The braking’s pretty phenomenal. I don’t think I locked a brake all day, that’s something we talk about a lot in Supercars, it was pretty weird to go into a corner and push the brake as hard as you can.
“For me, it was just trying to work out how much I could push the brake without using all the ABS and that sort of stuff and hurting my braking.
“It’s going to be a balance, but Bathurst is a completely different beast, so I’m looking forward to getting there.”
McLaughlin’s debut in the McLaren is something of a full-circle journey for the Kiwi driver, having raced with McElrea Racing as a teenager when he contested the 2010 Mini challenge with the team – the same year he made his Super2 series debut.
“Scott drove the Mini for us in 2010, so it’s like going full circle; it’s cool for him and us as well and a bit of a reunion which is neat,” team boss Andy McElrea said.
“He knows most of the boys from then so he’s slid back in.
“We had a busy program [Friday] bedding in new components for Bathurst.”