The Volvo jokes may have stopped but controversy swirling around the Swedish manufacturer won’t go away after young gun Scott McLaughlin claimed an historic V8 Supercars race victory.
McLaughlin, 20, again did plenty to make driving Volvos look cool in claiming the fourth and final race at the Australian Grand Prix exhibition round at Albert Park on Sunday.
While there were no championship points at stake, it was Volvo’s first race win at just its second meeting since returning to the touring car class following a 28-year absence.
However, McLaughlin’s speed only added to speculation his Volvo holds an aerodynamic advantage.
And McLaughlin upped the ante on Sunday, dismissing the “haters” and accusing rival teams such as Ford of failing to “step up”.
“With regards to parity, I don’t think teams like Ford stepped up in the off-season, that’s my opinion,” he said.
“You are always going to have your haters but I am going to always race as hard as I can.”
The flying Kiwi delivered his now trademark “jandal” – slang for acceleration – to hold out three-time V8 champion Craig Lowndes while Nissan’s Michael Caruso pipped Garth Tander of Holden for third in the 12-lap race.
The win backed up McLaughlin’s remarkable podium finish at the recent Adelaide season opener where Volvo had their first start.
While McLaughlin has done much to end the Volvo jokes, the Swedish manufacturer is still in rivals’ sights.
Drivers questioned V8 aerodynamic testing measures on social media after McLaughlin’s Adelaide success.
V8 Supercars organisers have since assembled a new technical group to investigate the matter and are expected to conduct a mid-season parity test.
“It’s still bubbling along. But you just have to look at the third race. It was very close across the board,” McLaughlin said of the issue.
“But the boys gave me a rocket ship today. I am just driving it, giving it some jandal.”
Remarkably McLaughlin sealed the eighth straight Albert Park V8 win by a New Zealand driver.
Holden’s Shane van Gisbergen won the weekend’s first three races but faltered on Sunday to finish 14th.
The next official V8 Supercars championship round is in Tasmania from March 28-30.
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