McLaughlin wins controversial Bathurst Supercars Eseries race

The 14-lap race, which followed two sprint events also on the Mount Panorama circuit, boiled down to a frantic final few laps with reigning Bathurst 1000 winner McLaughlin defending from Super2 driver Kostecki and Shane van Gisbergen.

Having spent the final lap stuck under McLaughlin's rear wing, Kostecki tagged the Penske Mustang - which was already just wide of apex - at the final corner.

The contact sent McLaughlin off-track and into the wall, allowing Kostecki to cross the line first with the former leader left holding off van Gisbergen for second.

Driving standards advisor Craig Baird wasted little time intervening, however, ordering a reversal of the positions due to the contact.

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"I feel like there was a fair bit of help there!" said McLaughlin, who was on the wrong side of a stewards call for race one contact with guesting IndyCar driver Will Power.

"It was a good battle, I had so much fun. Brodie's been quick all week, I knew I was going to have my work cut out there."

McLaughlin started the feature race best-placed of the contenders thanks to his third place in the reverse grid heat earlier this evening.

It didn't take long for van Gisbergen and Kostecki to get in the game, however.

Having opted to take their first stop on the first lap, and then have clean air, they ended up behind McLaughlin after he stopped on lap three.

Van Gisbergen then tried the undercut trick again during the second round of stops, pitting two laps earlier than McLaughlin.

It didn't quite work, though, the Ford driver holding onto a narrow lead.

With three laps to go van Gisbergen let Kostecki through exiting Griffins Bend, allowing the wildcard entry to challenge McLaughlin until their final-lap clash.

McLaughlin was declared the round winner, his $1000 charity prize to be donated to Camp Quality.

Cam Waters ended up fourth, although his race wasn't without a controversial moment of its own.

There was the familiar sight of Tickford cars tangling at Bathurst early in the race, Waters tipping Will Davison into a spin at Forrest's Elbow.

That proved to be bad news for 2012 IndyCar champion Power, who was left with nowhere to go and hit Davison.

The US-based Aussie still managed to claw his way back to 10th, despite another run-in with Chaz Mostert at Turn 1 later in the race.

In the earlier eight-lap heat races, Van Gisbergen and McLaughlin's team-mate Fabian Coulthard shared the victories.

From pole position, Van Gisbergen held off Kostecki to win the opener by 0.7s, with Erebus driver Anton de Pasquale completing the podium 1.1s behind.

Coulthard recovered from an early crash in race one to win the second reversed race from Davison and a charging McLaughlin, who had finished seventh in race one despite serving a drive-through for the contact with Power.