Scott McLaughlin celebrated his first IndyCar race win with fellow Kiwi Scott Dixon.
Dixon has six IndyCar championships to his name, his most recent coming in the 2020 season.
The pair spent time together after McLaughlin’s maiden win in the series.
The three-time Supercar champion recently spoke to Stuff.co.nz about celebrating with his fellow Kiwi, and how the weekend played out.
“I had a few beers with Scotty Dixon and it was cool to see him out with Emma, his wife,” McLaughlin said. “We just hung out and talked like a couple of Kiwis, which was really cool.”
McLaughlin secured pole position for the first race of the season in the Saturday qualifying session.
“He was one of the first people to come to see me when I got my pole [position] too. I think he’s just proud to have another person up there flying the New Zealand flag and doing our bit.”
McLaughlin finished eighth and first in the two practice sessions respectively proving that his Penske car had the speed to put together a strong result.
The team had confidence he was capable of strong results, he and his engineer Ben Bretzman were aiming to secure a qualifying spot inside the top six.
“It was definitely surprising. You have that self-belief that you can do it, but it was a little earlier than I thought it was going to happen.
“In the race, I had belief I could do it, I just had to get the start and what would be, would be.
“It’s nice for me to have proven something at least and repaid some of the faith that Roger (Penske, team owner) and Tim (Cindric, team principal) have put into me,” he said.
“It’s put my mind at ease a bit more about that situation. But I’m addicted to it, I just want more and I’m going to work harder to make sure we’re even stronger at the next few events.
“It was one of the more prouder moments in my life to cross the line and know that I made an Australian and New Zealand contingent really proud. That’s a cool thing for me.”
McLaughlin will soon head to Texas for testing ahead of the next race at Texas Motor Speedway March 20.
Main image: Chris Jones
