Motorsport: Scott McLaughlin's Bathurst fate revealed as DJR Team Penske hit hard

Scott McLaughlin will keep his Bathurst title after DJR Team Penske were hit with heavy sanctions for asking driver Fabian Coulthard to deliberately slow behind the safety car during the Bathurst 1000 last weekend.

Coulthard has been relegated from sixth to 21st (last of the finishers) and the team has been docked 300 championship points as well as a AU$250,000 fine.

The fine is reportedly the largest in Supercars history, even with $100,000 suspended for two years.

McLaughlin was leading late in the race when a safety car was introduced. As the Kiwi driver went into the pits, Team Penske teammate Coulthard slowed down the pack while sitting behind the safety car which gave McLaughlin time to take on fuel for the final sprint to the finish.

At the time Coulthard looked to have ensured a two horse race between Jamie Whincup and McLaughlin for the title after his go slow approach during the yellow flag ensured a huge gap between a hard charging Shane van Gisbergen and the leading duo.

Coulthard's snail's pace also ensured he avoided double stacking, or waiting behind his teammate McLaughlin in the pits.

The team radio showed van Gisbergen was filthy about Coulthard's tactics. "Fabian is going stupidly slow," van Gisbergen said.

"Fabian should get a penalty for that, going stupidly slow. That was shocking."

Last week McLaughlin hit back hard at critics of his team's win at Mt Panorama.

Motorsport legend Larry Perkins labelled the tactics "disgraceful" on race day while Penrite Racing boss Barry Ryan said the Penske team "fixed the race" with Coulthard's actions, which held up the field.

But McLaughlin had a different view. "What they're saying is completely wrong. I think it's ridiculous. We didn't do anything of that sort," McLaughlin told Fox Sports' The Loud Pedal podcast.

"Bathurst is always unpredictable and there's always woulda, coulda, shoulda stories, and I think there are some people in other teams that should be focusing on their internal team issues before they kick on about us. And that's what pisses me off a lot about the whole thing."

McLaughlin said the controversy had taken the gloss of what he expected to be one of the most enjoyable experiences of his racing career.

"We deserved to win that race, I believe we won it fair and square, it just sucks we have to deal with all this stuff and what probably should be the greatest week of my life," he said.

Scott McLaughlin. Photo / Photosport

"I'm not going to lie, it has been a bit sad and it could have been a lot better for us to enjoy it.

"I think from my point of view and Alex's point of view, we have enjoyed it as a pairing. But it has been a bit noisy and frustrating not to fully enjoy it."

- With news.com.au