71 Facts About Scott McLaughlin

Scott Thomas McLaughlin is a New Zealand racing driver.

Scott McLaughlin competes in the IndyCar Series, driving the No 3 Dallara-Chevrolet for Team Penske.

Scott McLaughlin previously raced in the Supercars Championship, in which he won the drivers' title in 2018,2019 and 2020.

Scott McLaughlin 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.

Scott 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.

In July 2016 it was announced that Scott McLaughlin would join DJR Team Penske for the 2017 Supercars Championship.

Scott McLaughlin enjoyed immediate success with the team, taking a record 16 pole positions during the season as well as eight race victories.

Scott McLaughlin finished runner-up to Jamie Whincup in the championship, with Whincup securing his seventh championship title in the final race of the season.

In 2019, Scott McLaughlin dominantly won his second championship, winning a record 18 races during the season, including the Bathurst 1000, and securing the title with one event remaining.

Scott McLaughlin completed a hat-trick of championship wins in 2020, taking a further 13 race victories.

Scott McLaughlin made his debut at the 2020 Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg.

Scott McLaughlin was born in Christchurch, New Zealand moving to Hamilton aged 3 with his family before moving to Australia's Gold Coast at 9 years of age and attended Saint Stephen's College throughout his upbringing.

Scott McLaughlin began racing karts in 1999 at the Kartsport Hamilton circuit outside of Hamilton, New Zealand, winning his first title in 2002.

In 2008, Scott McLaughlin represented New Zealand in the Junior class at the Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals, alongside Nick Cassidy.

Scott McLaughlin was part of the Britek Motorsport scholarship in 2008, which saw him working closely with team owner and Supercars race winner Jason Bright.

Scott McLaughlin attended the 2008 Bathurst 1000 with the team, spending time in the pit garage and seeing the inner workings of the team.

Scott McLaughlin completed a week of work experience with Stone Brothers Racing in 2009, after which he was offered a four-year apprenticeship with the team, starting in 2010.

Scott McLaughlin recorded over 70 laps at Queensland Raceway, driving one of the team's Ford BF Falcons.

Scott 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.

Scott McLaughlin was signed by SBR to contest the 2010 Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series in a BF Falcon.

Scott McLaughlin eventually made his debut in the second round at Queensland Raceway, becoming the youngest ever driver to race a V8 Supercar.

The finishing order of the top ten was reversed to form the grid for Race 2, meaning that Scott McLaughlin started the second race on the front row.

Scott McLaughlin was hit by Owen Kelly and Ryan Hansford, with the car suffering severe damage and taking McLaughlin out of the rest of the event.

Scott McLaughlin 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.

Scott 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.

Scott 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.

Scott McLaughlin followed this up with a pair of third-place finishes at Barbagallo Raceway, moving up to second in the championship.

Scott 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.

Scott McLaughlin scored his first round win in the series at Barbagallo Raceway, backing it up with another victory at Townsville.

Percat and Pye finished first and second in the penultimate round at Winton, while Scott McLaughlin finished fifth; the results saw Scott 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.

Scott 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.

Scott McLaughlin drove a Holden VE Commodore in the 2012 season of the V8 SuperTourer Series.

Scott McLaughlin won six races for MPC Motorsport on his way to becoming the inaugural series champion.

Scott McLaughlin made his debut in the Supercars Championship at the Sandown 500 in 2012, as a co-driver to Jonathon Webb at Tekno Autosports.

Scott McLaughlin drove at the Sydney 500 for Garry Rogers Motorsport after Alexandre Premat was forced out of the Sunday race due to extreme heat exhaustion the day before.

Scott McLaughlin was later signed by Garry Rogers Motorsport as a full-time driver for the 2013 season.

Scott McLaughlin continued with Garry Rogers Motorsport into 2014, under its new identity as Volvo Polestar Racing.

On 1 March 2014, Scott McLaughlin scored a podium finish in Volvo's return to the series at the Clipsal 500 Adelaide.

For 2017, Scott McLaughlin moved from Garry Rogers Motorsport to DJR Team Penske to partner Fabian Coulthard.

In 2018, Scott McLaughlin continued to race with DJR Team Penske.

Scott McLaughlin won seven out of the 34 races, winning in Melbourne, Phillip Island, Barbagallo, Hidden Valley, and Ipswich.

Scott McLaughlin finished third at Bathurst alongside Alexandre Premat in which was the Ford Falcon's final appearance at Mount Panorama.

In Newcastle, Scott McLaughlin won race thirty and finished second in race thirty-one to become the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars champion.

Scott 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.

Scott McLaughlin 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 Premat as Scott's co-driver.

Scott McLaughlin 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.

Scott McLaughlin scored thirteen wins on the season to go with eight podium finishes and fifteen pole positions.

Scott McLaughlin stated that in future seasons he intends to compete within the Bathurst 1000 with Team Penske's backing after he completes the IndyCar season.

Scott McLaughlin however expressed interest in moving to Penske's team in the Indycar Series.

Scott McLaughlin 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.

Scott 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 February 2020 Scott 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 Scott McLaughlin's ability to quickly adapt to the demands of racing the DW12 on ovals.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scott McLaughlin was unable to travel to the United States for that race.

Scott McLaughlin spent 2021 learning the different aspects of IndyCar racing.

Scott McLaughlin admitted after the season that his biggest struggle of the season was learning how to build and manage the temperature of the tires and brakes, which is more critical and difficult in an open-wheel racecar like an IndyCar than it is in a touring car that Scott McLaughlin was used to racing.

Scott McLaughlin recorded his first fast six qualifying slot and first top ten finish on a road course at the first race on the IMS Road Course, where he qualified sixth and finished eighth.

Scott McLaughlin picked up further top ten finishes in the second race in Texas and at Gateway.

Mears' mentorship paid off for Scott McLaughlin and led to him qualifying seventeenth on the grid, the highest Penske driver in what was considered Penske's worst qualifying performance for the 500 since 1995.

Scott McLaughlin would be the only one of the three to run a full schedule in 2021, as Johnson opted not to race on any of the oval courses and Grosjean only chose to race at one of the four oval races.

Scott McLaughlin only outdueled Grosjean four times in their rookie season; at St Petersburg when he raced there for the second time in six months, at Grosjean's first oval race at Gateway, and at Portland and Long Beach when Grosjean was caught up in accidents caused by other drivers early in both races.

Scott McLaughlin took his first IndyCar win at the season opener at St Petersburg, took a second win later in the season at Mid Ohio, and a third win on the season at Portland.

Scott McLaughlin picked up additional podium finishes at Texas, the second race at Iowa, Nashville, and Gateway, along with earning three pole positions on the season.

Scott McLaughlin agreed on a multi-year deal to remain with Team Penske from 2023 onwards.

Scott McLaughlin picked up his only win of the season at Barber.

Scott McLaughlin took a mechanical DNF at Long Beach but the year began to turn around as he took his first win of the season at Barber.

Scott McLaughlin took his first career win on an oval at the first race of the Iowa double header, putting him in the top five of the championship.

Scott McLaughlin secured a second oval win, and third win of the season, in the second race of the Milwaukee double header.

Scott McLaughlin is married to Karly Paone, a schoolteacher from Long Island.

Scott McLaughlin has two dogs, one named Chase and the other named Luna.

Scott McLaughlin began watching American team sports after he met his wife and is a fan of the New York Mets, New York Knicks, and Carolina Panthers.