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Another one-two for Mustangs as Fabian Coulthard pips Scott McLaughlin in Supercars

Will Davison of Erebus Motorsport V8 exits the corner during Race 1 at Philip Island.

Will Davison of Erebus Motorsport V8 exits the corner during Race 1 at Philip Island. Photo: Getty

The DJR Team Penske Mustangs might have swapped podium places, but a second one-two result on Phillip Island has done nothing to change their domination of the Supercars championship.

Fabian Coulthard claimed his first race win of the season on Sunday, edging teammate Scott McLaughlin in a 200 kilometre battle at the Victorian coastal circuit.

The difference was pit performance, with Coulthard undercutting the reigning champion with quicker stops to take the lead after 18 laps.

There was no doubt McLaughlin had a faster car – his record eighth-straight pole position earlier in the day was proof of that.

But with few points to gain from a dangerous and potentially morale-sapping move on his teammate, McLaughlin was happy enough to coast to second place ahead of surprise podium debutant Anton de Pasquale.

Coulthard said he was slightly shocked to emerge with the race lead after the dust settled on the pit stops.

“I’m not sure what happened to Scott on one of his out laps,” he said.

“But I’m pumped. It’s awesome for all my guys.

“It’s always hard to get the first one (of the year). I’ve got a class teammate, simple as that – to take one off him is tough at the best of times.”

Penske managing director Ryan Story reported a two-second difference in “pit transit time”, suggesting McLaughlin was slow on entering or exiting the circuit’s pit lane, one of the longest in the calendar.

McLaughlin was the first man to congratulate Coulthard and praised his teammate but was eager to get to the bottom of his blunder.

“We have to have a look around, have a bit of a think,” he said.

“It’s great for the team.

“I’m really happy with my weekend … it’s been a big two weeks on the road so to come away with three one-twos is fantastic.”

He denied holding back from an overtaking effort, saying “we were both going hammer and tongs … that was all I had”.

De Pasquale, who claimed a first podium in his 41-race career, was the only Holden in a sea of Fords at the top of the order.

Rounding out the top six was Will Davison, Chaz Mostert and Cam Waters as the Mustangs continued their supreme start to the series.

After 10 races, Fords has won nine.

McLaughlin, racing for a back-to-back title, has seven of those and now leads the championship by 124 points over Coulthard.

Mostert has improved to third, a further 119 points behind.

Red Bull HRT team principal Roland Dane says the Supercars’ fleet of Commodores must accept their “performance disadvantage” after falling further behind in the title fight at Phillip Island.

The sport’s dominant team find themselves in an uncomfortable position after four meets – on the outer, and unsure how to improve.

Ford’s domination of the 2019 championship has been almost total.

It has won nine of the 10 races and the top three drivers in the championship are steering Mustangs.

McLaughlin leads with 1058 points, DJR Team Penske teammate Coulthard is second with 934 points and Mostert has improved to third with 815.

Dane’s former champion Shane van Gisbergen is fourth, but the Kiwi – like his teammate Jamie Whincup – wasn’t a factor in either race on the Island.

“We’re trying to walk a tightrope in the performance window,” Dane said.

“We’re trying to find something that, to be honest, fundamentally isn’t there. All the Holden teams are. We’re doing all sorts of things trying to find it.

“You see it with all the Holden teams, with Erebus, with Walkinshaw as well … we are at a performance disadvantage. We have to accept that.”

Whincup, who was second in the championship before arriving at Symmons Plains last weekend, has slumped to ninth in the standings after a 25th-placed finish and a DNF in back-to-back meets.

Whincup said on Saturday he couldn’t “remember a car with so little grip than that, I’d have to go back 15 years”.

“We are not performing as well as we would like,” he said.

“We have certainly dropped off quite substantially from last season. There’s no secret, we are not hiding behind it and not saying it’s bad luck.

“You can call it a slump, but we will fight our way out of it.”

If there was a shining light for the Commodores, it was a first podium for Anton de Pasquale in Sunday’s race.

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