Luke Youlden has been announced as Fabian Coulthard’s co-driver at Brad Jones Racing for this year’s V8 Supercars endurance rounds.
Youlden, a solid campaigner in the endurance races over recent years, helped Will Davison to pole at the Phillip Island 500 in 2011 and last year took pole at Sandown alongside Shane van Gisbergen after winning the co-driver qualifying race.
The 35-year-old is also seen as the perfect match for Coulthard’s height, making driver-changes and seating position in the Lockwood Racing Holden much easier.
Winning Bathurst would be a dream come true according to Youlden and doing it alongside his friend, Coulthard, would be extra special.
“I’ve never been involved with BJR, except that they were an archrival when Andrew Jones and myself were going at it in the 2004 DV Series! I’ve obviously picked a fantastic time to join the team with their recent form,” said Youlden.
“It seems to be a very a harmonious team. I had to really rely on Fabian’s word about that initially, as I’m obviously very new there, but from what I’ve seen so far he’s definitely right.
“That’s very important to me because I believe you need an environment where everyone works together to win a race like Bathurst. That’s a lesson I’ve learned from being involved with teams where you seem to win together but make mistakes as an individual.
“I know Fabs pretty well; he was instrumental in getting me across to BJR. It would mean the world to me to win Bathurst and to do it with a mate like Fabian would be something extra special.
“It hasn’t happened for me yet, but I think I’ve got myself in the best position so far in my career to do it. Fabian is at the top of his game, the engineering team is at the top of their game and, by September, I’ll be doing my utmost to be on top of my game.
“Going into Sandown this year I’m the reigning co-driver race winner and have sat on pole position and led the first half of the 500km race for the last two years. I’m very much looking forward to getting a hat trick of pole positions with BJR this year and with the pace they’ve shown so far, we have a definite shot at it.”
Youlden will get his first taste of this year’s new-spec V8 Supercar when testing for the enduros begins at the start of June.
