[双语简报-Indycar][来自新西兰的澳洲三冠王，要称王北美了？]

*Is McLaughlin the Championship Favorite?

*原标题：麦克劳格文会是新的冠军候选么？

**译文版权up所有，原文及图片摘自Indycar官网，有删减

Certainly, that’s a bold prediction to make of McLaughlin with 16 races remaining on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule. But recent trends suggest it’s not as crazy as one might think.

没错，现在这么预测可能为时过早，尤其是赛季还有16站比赛没跑呢。但话说回来，就近年来的夺冠走势来说，这么想似乎又没那么不着边际。

For the last three seasons, the winner of the season-opening race has gone on to win the Astor Challenge Cup. Josef Newgarden did it in 2019, Scott Dixon in 2020 and Palou in 2021.

在过去的三个赛季中，揭幕战冠军最终都笑到了最后，2019年的纽加顿，2020的迪克森，还有去年的帕劳都是如此。

Several factors play in as to how and why that happens. Above all though, consistency might be the most vital part.

诚然，很多因素会左右冠军的归属，而重中之重，恰恰是稳定性。

In Newgarden’s title run three years ago, he had just one finish outside the top 10 after the sixth race of the year, a 15th place on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. As did Dixon in 2020, who finished 12th at Road America-2. Same story goes for Palou last year: he finished 17th at St. Petersburg, the second race of the year.

三个赛季前，纽加顿的夺冠赛季中，美国人在第六站印第安纳内场赛中位列第15，但这也是他唯一一次跌出比赛前十。同样的，迪克森只在2020赛季美国之路的第二回合中掉到过第12。历史在上赛季再次重演，帕劳在第二站的圣彼得斯堡街道上上位列17，仅此而已。

McLaughlin needs to continue to perform strong like he did Sunday in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, but he also needs to minimize risks and take what he can get. This, he knows.

麦克劳格文需要继续同他的雪佛兰赛车一起，拿出赛季首个周末的强势表现。与此同时，新西兰车手也要留个心眼，切忌冒进，稳步向前。当然啦，他心知肚明。

“What won the championship last year was a 7.1 average race result,” he said. “For me it’s just that I want to finish top 10, top eight every race, and if I can do that, I know I’m going to be there. When we’ve got a fourth-place car, we take a fourth place. When we’ve got a 10th place car, we take 10th. When we can win a race, we capitalize. That’s the plan this year.”

“去年I的夺冠成绩，也就是平均每站7.1名，”新西兰人说道，“对我来说，就是要争取每场比赛都能前十，前八完赛。如果真能做到这点，那一切自然水到渠成。如果我们的赛车只能拿到第四，我们就拿第四；如果只能拿第十，那就拿第十；要是可以争分站冠军，那就去争。这就是今年的计划。”

It’s too early to say for certain McLaughlin is the championship favorite, and we should have a clearer image of his chances after the sixth race this season, the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 29.

要现在就断言麦克劳格文是今年的夺冠热门或许过早，不过，我们也许可以在赛季第六场比赛，也就是第106届印地500大赛后窥知一二。

But stay on your toes. After all, it was just last season that a driver opened his second full-time season with his first career win and parlayed it into a championship.

车迷们大可继续安心欣赏比赛，毕竟，上赛季才刚有一个二年级生，在揭幕站拿下生涯首冠，并最终拿下总冠军。

原文地址：

https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/02/02-28-fifthgear-stpete