Returning to the scene of his career's "lowest point", Ford's Scott McLaughlin says he has exorcised his Newcastle demons after taking a confident step toward securing a maiden Supercars title this weekend.
Supercars series leader McLaughlin on Friday threw down the gauntlet to championship rival Shane van Gisbergen by clocking the fastest practice time ahead of the season-ending Newcastle 500.
McLaughlin topped the timesheets with a blistering lap of one minute, 10:47 seconds ahead of seven-time series champion Jamie Whincup of Holden and Ford's Cameron Waters on the tough street circuit.
Holden's van Gisbergen was seventh fastest.
It was a shot in the arm for McLaughlin who holds just a 14-point lead over van Gisbergen in the closest championship finish in a decade.
And it seemed he needed it after returning to Newcastle where Whincup snatched away the title from McLaughlin in heartbreaking fashion just 12 months ago.
Last year McLaughlin appeared to have a historic Supercars crown in the bag when he held a 78-point championship lead over Whincup and claimed pole for the season's final race in Newcastle.
History shows Whincup came from the clouds to upset McLaughlin and deny the flying Kiwi his first Supercars title in dramatic scenes.
But McLaughlin said there are no psychological scars coming into Newcastle after claiming he had proven his mental toughness by responding to van Gisbergen's challenge at the last round in Auckland.
Van Gisbergen not only claimed victory at Auckland's opening race, he humiliated his fellow Kiwi by parking too close to McLaughlin's Ford afterwards to ensure he couldn't get out.
McLaughlin hit back the next day by claiming line honours in the New Zealand round's final race, snatching back a slender series lead over his compatriot.
Asked if he was feeling mentally strong ahead of the Newcastle round, McLaughlin said: "Look at Sunday at New Zealand.
"A lot of stuff went on the day before but we just came out and had a crack.
"From 12 months ago which was probably the lowest point of my career I feel like we came back in the same (title contender) position - I can't be too bad in the head."
Not much has separated McLaughlin and van Gisbergen all year.
McLaughlin has won eight races in 2018 while van Gisbergen has claimed seven.
But McLaughlin believed he would have the edge in qualifying starting from 1135 AEDT on Saturday after claiming 13 poles this season compared to van Gisbergen's five.
In the final round of his 22-year career, retiring Holden great Craig Lowndes was 12th fastest in second practice.
And Mark Winterbottom - who has sensationally announced he will switch to Holden next year after 13 seasons with Ford - was 15th in Friday's final session.
The 2018 Supercars title will be decided by 95-lap races on Saturday and Sunday.
