Scott McLaughlin

Scott Thomas McLaughlin (born 10 June 1993) is a New Zealand racing driver.

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

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

After his family relocated to the Gold Coast in 2003, McLaughlin began contesting Australian titles while also continuing to compete in New Zealand.

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

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

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

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

On 17 December 2009, the team gave McLaughlin his first test in a V8 Supercar.

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

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.

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

Due to his limited racing experience in cars, McLaughlin was unable to attain the required competition licence to compete in the first round of the series; he instead took part in the first two rounds of the Australian Mini Challenge and completed a single round of the Victorian Formula Ford Series.

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

McLaughlin qualified in seventh position, just under a second behind the pole position time of championship leader Steve Owen, and finished ninth in the first race of the weekend.

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

He overheated the clutch during the start procedure and was unable to move his car when the race started.

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

He 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.

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.

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.

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

After struggling in the third round at Townsville, McLaughlin secured his first race victory at Queensland Raceway.

Having qualified second behind championship leader Andrew Thompson, McLaughlin took the lead at the start of the first race and went on to win by two seconds.

Six further top-five race finishes in the remaining rounds of the season saw McLaughlin finish fourth in the championship, having updated to a newer FG Falcon at the penultimate round of the championship.

McLaughlin won the 2012 Dunlop V8 Supercar Series and made his Supercars Championship debut at the 2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500 as a co-driver to Jonathon Webb at Tekno Autosports.

Having made a substitute appearance for Garry Rogers Motorsport at the final event of 2012, McLaughlin was signed by the team to compete full-time in the 2013 season.

He 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.

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 McLaughlin would join DJR Team Penske for the 2017 Supercars Championship.

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

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

The following season, McLaughlin took his maiden championship title after a close battle with Whincup's teammate Shane van Gisbergen in the second half of the year.

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

In 2019, 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.

Starting the Final in sixth place, McLaughlin was involved in an incident on the first lap and eventually finished 19th.

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

During 2020 it was announced that McLaughlin would join the IndyCar Series with Team Penske in 2021.

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

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.