Finishing quickest in this morning’s free practice at Sandown was little consolation for Fabian Coulthard who had an uphill battle during the afternoon’s main event.
The Lockwood Racing driver and Co-Driver David Besnard started the 500km marathon from 18th after an incident-laden weekend, which saw mechanics burning the midnight oil both Friday and Saturday night.
On the back foot from the start, Besnard handed the car over on lap 75 with Coulthard rejoining 21st. He fought back to 15th at the chequered flag to maintain eighth place in the championship standings but was left to wonder about what could have been given the morning’s pace.
The next round on the V8 Supercar calendar is the iconic Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 from October 4-7.
Fabian Coulthard
Lockwood Racing
“If we had started in eighth, like we qualified, we could have raced in the top five this weekend I’m sure but it just wasn’t to be.
“We just weren’t quick enough in the first half of the race. It’s a 500km sprint race and you can’t afford to be giving up time at any stage.
“During the second half we picked up and had good pace relative to the cars around us. I was able to punch out good times consistently and we gapped the cars behind us but when you’re so far behind you’re just playing catch up.”
David Besnard
Lockwood Racing Co-Driver
“After about the fourth lap they all got into each other at turn four and I copped a hit from behind but it didn’t seem to affect the car too much. Usually in these races everyone takes it a bit easy but after yesterday I was nervous. There was a bit of biff and barge but nothing too bad.
“Other than that we were just lacking a bit of car speed. The first set of tyres wasn’t too good. The second set was better and I could progress.”
2012 Dick Smith Sandown 500 – V8 Supercars C’ship Race 20
SANDOWN INTERNATIONAL MOTOR RACEWAY
V8 SUPERCARS Sandown 500
01 C.Lowndes/W.Luff, TeamVodafone,
02 M.Winterbottom/ S.Richards, Orrcon Steel FPR Ford
03 J.Whincup/P.Dumbrell, TeamVodafone
04 G.Tander/N.Percat, Holden Racing Team
05 S.Van Gisbergen/L.Youlden, SP Tools Racing
06 D.Reynolds/D.Canto, The Bottle-O Racing Team
07 T.Slade/A.Thompson, Lucky 7 Racing,
08 L.Holdsworth/C.Baird, Irwin Racing
09 J.Courtney/C.McConville, Holden Racing Team
10 J.Webb/S.McLaughlin, Tekno Autosports
15 F.Coulthard/D.Besnard, Lockwood Racing