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Scott Thomas McLaughlin (born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver. He currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske. He previously raced in the Australian Supercars Championship, in which he won the drivers' title in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and the championship's most famous race, the Bathurst 1000, in 2019.

McLaughlin won the 2012 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series and made his Supercars Championship debut at the 2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500 as a co-driver to Jonathon Webb at Tekno Autosports. Having made a substitute appearance for Garry Rogers Motorsport at the final event of 2012, McLaughlin was signed by the team to compete full-time in the 2013 season. He took his first race victory in the sixth race of the year, becoming the youngest driver to win a Supercars Championship race, and went on to finish his rookie season in tenth place. McLaughlin remained with the team for the next three seasons and enjoyed continued success, recording 17 pole positions and eight race victories for the team, with a best championship placing of third in 2016.

McLaughlin joined DJR Team Penske for the 2017 Supercars Championship and enjoyed immediate success with the team, taking a record 16 pole positions during the season as well as eight race victories. McLaughlin finished runner-up to Jamie Whincup in the championship, with Whincup securing his seventh championship title in the final race of the season. The following season, McLaughlin took his maiden championship title after a close battle with Whincup's teammate Shane van Gisbergen in the second half of the year. In 2019, McLaughlin won his second championship in dominant fashion, winning a record 18 races during the season, including the Bathurst 1000, and securing the title with one event remaining. McLaughlin completed a hat-trick of championship wins in 2020, taking a further 13 race victories.

During 2020 it was announced that McLaughlin would join the IndyCar Series with Team Penske in 2021. He made his debut at the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Personal life
McLaughlin was born in Hamilton, 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 racing karts in 1999 at the Kartsport Hamilton circuit outside of Hamilton, New Zealand, winning his first title in 2002. After his family relocated to the Gold Coast in 2003, McLaughlin began contesting Austrlian titles while also continuing to compete in New Zealand. In 2008, McLaughlin represented New Zealand in the Junior class at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, alongside Nick Cassidy. Starting the Final in sixth place, McLaughlin was involved in an incident on the first lap and eventually finished 19th.

V8 Supercar Development Series
McLaughlin was part of the Britek Motorsport scholarship in 2008, which saw him working closely with team owner and Supercars race winner Jason Bright. McLaughlin attended the 2008 Bathurst 1000 with the team, spending time in the pit garage and seeing the inner workings of the team. McLaughlin completed a week of work experience with Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) in 2009, after which he was offered a four-year apprenticeship with the team, starting in 2010. On 17 December 2009, the team gave McLaughlin his first test in a V8 Supercar. He recorded over 70 laps at Queensland Raceway, driving one of the team's Ford BF Falcons. McLaughlin impressed during the test, recording lap times just over one second slower than those of the SBR's full-time V8 Supercar drivers Alex Davison and Shane van Gisbergen.

2010


McLaughlin was signed by SBR to contest the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series in a BF Falcon. Due to his limited racing experience in cars, McLaughlin was unable to attain the required competition licence to compete in the first round of the series; he instead took part in the first two rounds of the Australian Mini Challenge and completed a single round of the Victorian Formula Ford Series. He eventually made his debut in the second round at Queensland Raceway, becoming the youngest ever driver to race a V8 Supercar. McLaughlin qualified in seventh position, just under a second behind the pole position time of championship leader Steve Owen, and finished ninth in the first race of the weekend. The finishing order of the top ten was reversed to form the grid for the second, meaning that McLaughlin started on the front row. He overheated the clutch during the start procedure and was unable to move his car when the race started. He was hit by Owen Kelly and Ryan Hansford, with the car suffering severe damage and taking McLaughlin out of the rest of the event. He went on to finish the season twelfth in the championship, with a best qualifying result of second at Sydney Olympic Park and a best race result of fourth at Winton Motor Raceway. McLaughlin suffered a heavy crash at Mount Panorama, hitting the wall at the Reid Park section of the circuit during the first race of the weekend.

2011
McLaughlin remained with SBR in 2011 and scored his first podium in the opening round at Adelaide, finishing seventh and second in the two races to be classified third overall. He followed this up with a pair of third-place finishes at Barbagallo Raceway, moving up to second in the championship. After struggling in the third round at Townsville, McLaughlin secured his first race victory at Queensland Raceway. Having qualified second behind championship leader Andrew Thompson, McLaughlin took the lead at the start of the first race and went on to win by two seconds. Six further top-five race finishes in the remaining rounds of the season saw McLaughlin finish fourth in the championship, having updated to a newer FG Falcon at the penultimate round of the championship.

2012
McLaughlin remained with SBR for the opening two rounds of the 2012 season before moving to Matt Stone Racing, a satellite team of SBR, for the remainder of the year. McLaughlin prevailed in a close title fight with Chaz Mostert, Scott Pye and Nick Percat; the quartet became known as the Dunlop Series' "Class of 2012", with all four drivers going on to become race winners in the Supercars Championship. McLaughlin scored his first round win in the series at Barbagallo Raceway, backing it up with another victory at Townsville. Another podium finish at Queensland Raceway gave McLaughlin an 88-point lead over Mostert with three rounds remaining. While on course to finish second in the first race at Mount Panorama, McLaughlin suffered a puncture which dropped him to 13th place. Despite recovering to finish sixth in the second race, McLaughlin left the event with a 20-point deficit to Mostert in the championship. Percat and Pye finished first and second in the penultimate round at Winton, while McLaughlin finished fifth; the results saw McLaughlin take a 32-point lead over Percat into the final round at Sydney Olympic Park, with both Mostert and Pye less than 100 points adrift. McLaughlin won the opening race of the final round, with incidents for Percat and Mostert giving him a comfortable points lead heading into the final race of the season. A third-place finish saw him secure the title with a 73-point margin over Pye.

Supercars Championship career


McLaughlin made his first appearance in a Supercars Championship session at the 2011 Coates Hire Ipswich 300, driving Van Gisbergen's SBR FG Falcon in the first two practice sessions of the event. McLaughlin was hopeful of being selected by SBR as a co-driver for the endurance races in the 2012 International V8 Supercars Championship, but the team elected against it. McLaughlin instead approached Tekno Autosports, who signed him to drive alongside Jonathon Webb in a Holden VE Commodore at the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 that year. McLaughlin finished seventh in the co-driver qualifying race at the Sandown 500, before pairing with Webb to finish tenth in the main 500-kilometre race. They backed this up with a sixth-place finish at the Bathurst 1000. During this period McLaughlin was also involved in the testing of the championship's Car of the Future prototype.

2012
McLaughlin competed in his first solo Supercars Championship race at the 2012 Sydney Telstra 500. Regular Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) driver Alexandre Prémat suffered from severe heat exhaustion in the first race of the event and was taken to hospital. Prémat continued to feel unwell overnight and was replaced by McLaughlin for the second race. Having missed qualifying, McLaughlin finished the race in 17th place, one lap behind race winner Will Davison. In the following week, it was announced that McLaughlin would join GRM as a full-time driver for the 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship, while also completing his apprenticeship with the team.



2013
McLaughlin qualified in tenth place for the first race of the season at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide and finished sixth, two places behind teammate Prémat. A ninth-place finish in the second race saw McLaughlin leave the event sixth in the championship standings. Two weeks later, McLaughlin won a race at the non-championship support event to the 2013 Australian Grand Prix, leading home Craig Lowndes and Fabian Coulthard in the final race of the weekend. McLaughlin scored his first championship race win in the third championship round at Pukekohe. Tyre failures for Jamie Whincup and Mark Winterbottom left McLaughlin in the lead and he successfully defended his position ahead of Jason Bright in the closing laps. At 19 years and 307 days, McLaughlin became the youngest race winner in the history of the Australian Touring Car and Supercars Championship, surpassing the record set by Todd Kelly in 2000, and the first teenager to win a race. The rest of the event was less successful, with McLaughlin missing the final race after a heavy crash in the third race of the weekend. The following three events brought mixed results, with a best finish of seventh coming at the Circuit of the Americas in the championship's first event in the United States.

McLaughlin qualified on the front row for the first time at the Townsville 400, losing out to Winterbottom by less than two tenths of a second. In the following event at Queensland Raceway, McLaughlin scored his second championship race win. After finishing second to Whincup in the first race of the event, McLaughlin took the lead from Whincup at the start of the second race and held the position to the finish. He was running second in the final race of the weekend before a tyre failure dropped him to 20th place. McLaughlin paired with Jack Perkins for the Enduro Cup, finishing eighth at both the Sandown 500 and the Bathurst 1000. Electrical problems hampered their results at the Gold Coast 600 and they finished tenth in the Enduro Cup standings. McLaughlin finished the season in tenth place in the championship and was awarded the Mike Kable Young Gun Award for his efforts in his rookie season.

2014


GRM switched from running Holden Commodores to Volvo S60s for the 2014 season. Despite the change, McLaughlin started the year strongly, qualifying fifth and second for the first two races of the season at Adelaide. After finishing seventh in the first race, McLaughlin scored the first podium finish for the S60 in the second race. He finished as runner-up to Lowndes after a final lap battle with defending series champion Whincup. McLaughlin and Whincup went side-by-side for three corners before Whincup moved ahead, though he ran wide on the exit of the final corner which allowed McLaughlin back through into second place. McLaughlin was on course for another podium finish in the final race of the weekend before an electrical problem saw him retire from the race. McLaughlin repeated his 2013 success at the Australian Grand Prix support event, taking one race win and the overall victory for the weekend. McLaughlin secured his first pole position in the championship at Winton, becoming the youngest polesitter in championship history at 20 years and 300 days. After two more podium finishes at Pukekohe, McLaughlin scored his first championship race win for Volvo at Barbagallo. Having lost places to Lowndes and Russell Ingall after starting on pole position, McLaughlin fought back to take the lead before making his pit-stop, after which he held off Coulthard to take victory despite a damaged header. It was Volvo's first win in the championship since 1986.

McLaughlin scored another podium at Queensland Raceway and took his second win of the season at Sydney Motorsport Park. He qualified third at the Bathurst 1000 and, with Prémat as co-driver, led for most of the first half of the race. The pair were in contention for the win when McLaughlin hit the wall exiting The Cutting, having lost control while being passed by Shane van Gisbergen. GRM were able to repair the car and McLaughlin and Prémat were classified in 17th position. McLaughlin rounded at the season with four more podium finishes at the final three events, including a pair of victories at Phillip Island. He took his tenth pole position of the year in the final race of the season, matching the season total achieved by series champion Whincup. McLaughlin finished fifth in the championship and was awarded the Barry Sheene Medal.

2015


After their successful 2014 campaign, McLaughlin and GRM aimed for championship success in 2015.

2017
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.

2018
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.

2019
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.

2020
In a 2020 season shortened by the COVID-19 Pandemic McLaughlin won his third consecutive and to date last Supercars Championship and the final championship for DJR Team Penske. He scored thirteen wins on the season to go with eight podium finishes and fifteen pole positions.

IndyCar Series career
Speculation around McLaughlin moving to one of Penske's other motorsports programs began in 2019, when Penske team president Tim Cindric and McLaughlin met in Australia to discuss McLaughlin's future in the Penske organization. Cindric originally envisioned moving McLaughlin to Penske's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship program to race alongside Helio Castroneves in Penske's Acura Daytona Prototype International entry and even potentially competing in the World Endurance Championship. McLaughlin however expressed interest in moving to Penske's team in the Indycar Series. He stated his primary motivators were the challenge of racing open wheel race cars, his long time goal of racing in the Indianapolis 500, and competing against his childhood hero and fellow New Zealander Scott Dixon. Cindric was skeptical about moving McLaughlin to Indycar as McLaughlin had not driven an open wheel racecar since he raced in Formula Ford since he was seventeen. McLaughlin changed Cindric's mind by altering his strength and conditioning regimen along with undertaking private simulator time that to show he had the talent and physical fitness to move from the mechanical grip reliant Supercars to the downforce reliant Dallara DW12, all during the middle of the 2019 Supercars Championship.

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. In February 2020 McLaughlin completed his first laps on an oval during Team Penske's test at Texas Motor Speedway, with reigning Indycar Series champion and future teammate Josef Newgarden hailing McLaughlin's ability to quickly adapt to the demands of racing the DW12 on ovals. On 5 February, Penske announced that McLaughlin will race a 4th Team Penske entry at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McLaughlin was unable to travel to the United States for that race. On 17 September, Team Penske announced that McLaughlin will instead make his IndyCar debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on 25 October. The day before the race he posted on his personal Instagram feed that he signed a multi year contract with Penske to compete full time in the series. During the race he qualified at the back of the grid and ultimately retired after a collision with Marco Andretti.

Team Penske (2021–present)
On January 25, 2021 McLaughlin and Penske announced that PPG Paints would be the primary sponsor for most of his entries in the Indycar series. He drove a Pennzoil-sponsored car at the 2021 Indianapolis 500, with the livery paying homage to that company's famed "Yellow Submarine" designs of the 1980s. McLaughlin was part of an intriguing rookie class of other motorsport discipline veterans moving to IndyCar that included former NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Formula One veteran Romain Grosjean, with many pundits speculating which of the three would have the strongest season. McLaughlin would be the only one of the three to run a full schedule in the 2021, as both Johnson and Grosjean opted not to race on any of the oval courses.

In his first race at Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama he made it to Q2 and qualified twelfth for the race. During the race he survived a multi car accident caused by teammate Josef Newgarden and finished the race in fourteenth, ahead of Johnson and teammate Simon Pagenaud but behind Grosjean and teammate Will Power.

New Zealand
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.