Kiwi Scott McLaughlin recorded another impressive result at this morning’s Honda Indy 200, finishing 12th and second within the Team Penske stable.
While it was a “solid run” in the former Supercars champ’s eyes, it was also a case of ‘what if’. The Kiwi had run in the top 10 for part of the race, looking set to break a four-race top-10 drought.
Speaking in a video posted to social media, McLaughlin said it was the need to save fuel in the final stint that cost him.
“A pretty good day, solid run. We compromised ourselves a little bit on strategy. We saved fuel towards the end, that really stopped our pace,” said McLaughlin.
“But we showed some pretty good promise, moved up a couple of spots. I feel like we’re learning every weekend.
“It’s a bloody hard series. There’s a lot of very good, talented drivers, really good teams. You can’t afford any errors.
“We just need to qualify a bit better and hopefully we can run up the front a bit better as well.”
Following this morning’s result, McLaughlin sits 13th in the standings. He still leads the rookie rankings, with former Formula 1 ace Romain Grosjean (who isn’t taking part in this season’s oval events) three spots back.
Across the Penske pit-bay it was celebration for McLaughlin’s teammate Josef Newgarden. The former champ held off a late charge from Marcus Ericsson to take the first win of the year for both himself and his team.
“Big congrats to my teammate Josef [Newgarden] on the win, awesome to get the monkey off the back for Team Penske,” McLaughlin added.
“Hopefully that opens a few of the doors and we can all contribute a little bit there towards the end of the year.”
Hey Scott why is it you had to conserve fuel toward the end is it pit management problems and in your other previous races you’ve had other little pit issues etc in conjuction with getting a better finishing place result. Your driving ability as a rookie is you can handle this type of race machine just look at your lap times they’re pretty good as far as a rookie goes. Keep up the good work Scott for Team Penske.