After narrowly avoiding an opening lap collision, involving team-mate Jason Bright, the resulting safety car saw many cars pit to put on the faster soft-compound tyres.
Coulthard, however, missed a radio call to come in preventing him from following a similar strategy.
In the closing stages his tyres were past the point of no return and Coulthard slipped off the circuit at Turn Five whilst defending 10th place. He re-joined, two spots down.
Fabian Coulthard
Lockwood Racing
“We struggled mainly for tyre life; that was our biggest problem. Theres not much you can do if you suffer tyre degradation, you wont last the distance without being hounded by everyone else.
“I didnt hear a call on the radio to pit when the safety car was deployed because of interference. I heard the repeated call but it was too late, which definitely put us on the back foot.
“The tyres were pretty worn out by the last lap and I lost grip and slipped off the track on Turn Five at The Sweeper and unfortunately lost two positions.”
2012 V8 Supercar Championship Series – Races 27 & 28
WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS – Qualifying Race 27
01 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford, 1:23.1443
02 Jamie Whincup, TeamVodafone, +0:00.1576
03 Jason Bright, Team BOC, +0:00.2979
04 Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing, 0:00.3062
05 James Moffat, Team Norton DJR, +0:00.3436
06 Lee Holdsworth, Irwin Racing, +0:00.4365
07 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing, +0:00.4432
08 James Courtney, Holden Racing Team, +0:00.4520
09 Rick Kelly, Jack Daniel’s Racing, +0:00.4623
10 David Reynolds, The Bottle-O Racing, +0:00.4696
2012 V8 Supercar Championship Series – Races 27 & 28
WINTON MOTOR RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS – Race 27
01 Jamie Whincup,TeamVodafone
02 Craig Lowndes, TeamVodafone
03 Lee Holdsworth, Irwin Racing
04 Mark Winterbottom, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford
05 James Moffat, Team Norton DJR
06 Tim Slade, Lucky 7 Racing
07 Jonathon Webb, Tekno Autosports
08 Garth Tander, Holden Racing Team
09 Michael Patrizi, Tekno Autosports
10 Tony D’Alberto, Team Hiflex
14 Fabian Coulthard, Lockwood Racing
