Sitting comfortably in the top ten has been Fabian Coulthard’s spot all year but today’s race, along with his Championship position, took a hit at the last hurdle.
The Lockwood Racing driver was running a strong seventh on lap 71 of the 74-lap race after improving in qualifying to start ninth. He feared the worst, however, when the car’s handling dropped dramatically and limped home in 15th with a rear puncture.
The disappointing result saw James Courtney leap-frog him to finish tenth in the V8 Supercar Championship points standings, relegating Coulthard to 11th.
V8 Supercars will be back on track after the summer break for the Clipsal 500 from February 28th to March 3rd.
Fabian Coulthard
Lockwood Racing
“I went over the chicane at Turn Six and Seven and when I landed the car felt strange. I knew from then on that we had broken or damaged something and it turned out to be a right-rear puncture. There’s not much you can do about that on the second-last lap.
“We could have finished sixth or seventh without too much drama today but obviously that’s just racing.
“Unfortunately the enduros were not so kind to the team. We lost a lot of points that could easily have got us in the Championship top ten but I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the Car of the Future now.”
Sydney Telstra 500 – V8 Supercars Championship – Races 29&30
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK STREET CIRCUIT
QUALIFYING RACE 30
01 Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team, 1:27.6295
02 Will Davison, Trading Post FPR Ford, +0.1197
03 James Courtney, Holden Racing Team, +0.2000
04 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports, +0.3401
05 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone, +0.3666
06 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford, +0.4866
07 James Moffat, Team Norton, +0.4988
08 Tim Slade, Lucky 7 Racing, +0.5500
09 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, +0.6720
10 Steve Owen, VIP Petfoods, +0.6799
Sydney Telstra 500 – V8 Supercars Championship – Races 29&30
SYDNEY OLYMPIC PARK STREET CIRCUIT
RACE 30
01 Will Davison, Trading Post FPR Ford
02 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone
03 James Courtney, Holden Racing Team
04 Tim Slade, Lucky 7 Racing
05 Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone
06 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports
07 David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing Team
08 Steve Owen, VIP Petfoods
09 Jason Bright, Team BOC
10 Steve Johnson, Jim Beam Racing
15 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing
