Everything in Scott McLaughlin’s world is on the rise.
The three-time Australian Supercars champion moved to the United States following his last title in 2020, and in four fast NTT IndyCar Seasons, the New Zealander has become Team Penske’s top performer, earning the organization’s best championship positions in 2023 and again in 2024.
He’s gotten married, recently became a father, welcoming a daughter, and then there’s the latest gift he’s received in the form of an invitation to spend 24 hours in January with countryman, friend, and former Supercars rival Shane van Gisbergen in a Corvette at IMSA’s Daytona season-opener.
Although he’s known today as an IndyCar driver, the Kiwi’s greatest exploits in racing — at least so far — have come with a roof over his head, and that’s what makes the upcoming union with van Gisbergen, young American phenom Conor Zilisch, and the ageless Ben Keating in a Trackhouse by TF Sport Z06 GT3.R such a special opportunity for McLaughlin.
He’s raced at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in a LMP2 car, but the return to Supercars-style machinery in the GTD Pro class is another first for the Indianapolis 500 polesitter, and he can’t wait to make the most of what he’s been given by General Motors, Trackhouse Racing, and Tom Ferrier’s TF Sport team.
“I make no secret in the pride that I have with our goal to be the best Chevy IndyCar team every year, and to do that two years in a row has been really special,” McLaughlin tells RACER. “And when Eric Warren presented this opportunity, for sure, I was very grateful. And to be honest, I’ve never really had anything like this presented to me.
“I’m absolutely honored to be wearing the Chevy badge at Daytona. I count myself pretty lucky to have a brand that not only invests in me, but invests in our team, and motorsport in general with the stuff GM and Cadillac are doing in Formula 1. I think that’s amazing. In this day and age, especially where you think people are shying away, GM are all-in and that’s really, really cool.”
If there’s a specific angle of interest with the program for international racing fans, it’s the combination of McLaughlin and van Gisbergen — who were routinely portrayed as heated rivals from their battles Down Under — in the same team.
Can the two peacefully coexist in a Corvette? Mclaughlin says don’t believe the hype.
“He’s a little bit older than I am, but I’ve known Shane since I was probably 15,” he says. “I started at Stone Brothers Racing, and he was the main driver there, and I was in the Dunlop Series, the development series below V8s. We were pretty good friends, and when he was growing up, I was right there. And then I moved to Melbourne in 2013 and he went and did his thing with another team. But I moved to Melbourne to be in Supercars, and that’s when we really started banging doors for the first time.