{"id":135155,"date":"2021-09-27T03:47:15","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T03:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=135155"},"modified":"2021-09-27T05:01:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T05:01:03","slug":"mclaughlin-claims-historic-indycar-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=135155","title":{"rendered":"McLaughlin claims historic IndyCar honour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reigning Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin<\/a> has capped a remarkable debut season in IndyCars, claiming the Rookie of the Year award.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin finished 11th in the final race at Long Beach, and 14th overall in the championship, one spot ahead of fellow rookie, former F1 driver Romain Grosjean.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi becomes the first driver in the storied history of the Penske team to claim Rookie of the Year honours.<\/p>\n

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"I think it just shows that Roger doesn't really employ rookies," McLaughlin said with a smile.<\/p>\n

"I feel privileged to be in that position. But I also feel a bit vulnerable. Look, it's a proud moment. Like I said, you get one chance to win this Rookie of the Year.<\/p>\n

"I was lucky to win Rookie of the Year at Indy, Rookie of the Year this year in the championship.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

"Any time you're winning for Roger in any way, shape or form he's happy. Yeah, hopefully it's just a little bit of job security."<\/p>\n

Previous winners of the Rookie of the Year title include Nigel Mansell (1993), Jacques Villeneuve (1994) and Australia's Will Power (2006).<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/JimmieJohnson\/status\/1442286549693976582?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

The jewel in the IndyCar crown remains the iconic Indy 500 in May, and having finished 20th there this year after a mid-race penalty<\/a>, McLaughlin is aiming much higher in 2022.<\/p>\n

"Oh, I'm going next year to Indy with the idea of winning," McLaughlin said emphatically.<\/p>\n

"I'm going to be in a car that can win the race. I know I'm quick there. I know I'm quick on ovals. I feel like I've got a handle on it. It's just a matter of having a good month, building up to it. Dotting my Is, crossing my Ts, not speeding in pit lane. That really hampered me. I think we were on for a top five.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

"I feel like this whole rookie thing could have been sealed a lot longer if I could have finished where I was going to finish at the Indy 500. I was infatuated with the Bathurst 1000 before I won it. Now I'm infatuated with the Indy 500.<\/p>\n

"With my wife, I'll watch old Indy 500s on tele, YouTube videos, watch anything at the end of the day. I just will be infatuated with it until I go good there and get a result. Certainly I want to get there next year."<\/p>\n

McLaughlin, who won the Supercars championship three years in a row from 2018-2020, is scheduled to race in the Bathurst 1000 in December with his old DJR team, but has recently admitted that's unlikely to happen<\/a> due to travel restrictions.<\/p>\n

He admitted "bad habits" from Supercars had held him back in IndyCars, noting that his success on ovals came because he was starting fresh, without having to adjust his driving style.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"The road course stuff, it's just completely different," he explained.<\/p>\n

"I don't have a roof over my head anymore. I've got a windscreen, but it's different. I have open-wheels. I'm not banging doors any more. I can't bang doors because if I do that, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble.<\/p>\n

"It's a lot of hard work trying to understand, trying to portray that to the media and the public. I've enjoyed the transition, feel like I've done an okay job."<\/p>\n

Spain's Alex Palou took out the IndyCar championship after finishing fourth at Long Beach, with Power ninth in the title race.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reigning Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin has capped a remarkable debut season in IndyCars, claiming the Rookie of the Year award. McLaughlin finished 11th in the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135155"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135155"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135157,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135155\/revisions\/135157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}