Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Melbourne V8 Supercars: Fabian Coulthard doubles up in race two

Fabian Coulthard claimed his second V8 Supercars victory of the day in the Australian Grand Prix-supporting non-championship event in Melbourne

The Brad Jones Racing Holden driver, who had charged from fourth to win the morning's first race, again had his work cut out after losing the initiative to Craig Lowndes in the pitstops.

Coulthard had pulled out a comfortable lead after a good start from pole position in the early laps, but when he headed into the pits at the end of lap three, he re-emerged behind Lowndes.

The Triple 8 Holden driver had briefly run third on the opening lap before being passed by team-mate Jamie Whincup and Will Davison on the run to Turn 3.

But after a rapid pitstop - marred by contact with Jason Bright when the pair clashed as they left their pit boxes - Lowndes soon emerged as best-placed of the early-stoppers. Lowndes was given a one-place grid penalty for race three for the incident.

This gave him the effective race lead ahead of Coulthard, but the New Zealander was soon on his tail and eventually took the lead with a great move around the outside at Turn 3.

Coulthard reclaimed the lead on track when first Shane van Gisbergen pitted and then Tim Slade, who had yet to stop, pulled over with an apparent engine problem in his Erebus Mercedes E63 AMG.

After that, Coulthard never looked seriously threatened, with Lowndes settling for a comfortable second ahead of Bright, and Davison a solid fourth.

BREAKTHROUGH FOR NISSAN

James Moffat gave the new Nissan Altima its best V8 Supercars result yet with a strong fifth place ahead of Scott McLaughlin, who put in an impressive charge after losing time at the start in a clash with Garth Tander.

Todd Kelly completed a good day for Nissan with eighth place behind David Reynolds. Van Gisbergen was an impressive ninth despite starting 26th as a result of retiring from race one with a gearbox problem.

Champion Jamie Whincup endured a difficult race despite at one stage being on course for third behind team-mate Lowndes, having passed Bright after the pitstops.

He was given a drive-through penalty for a safety infringement in the pits when he was spotted spinning up his wheels before being dropped from his jack and, after dropping to the back, lost further time when he ran through the gravel at Turn 3. Whincup ultimately finished 25th and last.

Results - 12 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                     Time/Gap
 1.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden         24m38.9131s
 2.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden             + 2.1309s
 3.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden           + 4.8875s
 4.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                   + 14.6794s
 5.  James Moffat         Nissan                     + 15.1337s
 6.  Scott McLaughlin     GRM Holden                 + 15.6054s
 7.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR Ford          + 19.0084s
 8.  Todd Kelly           Nissan                     + 19.1730s
 9.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden               + 21.6430s
10.  James Courtney       HRT Holden                 + 22.1579s
11.  Jonothan Webb        Tekno Holden               + 23.8646s
12.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                   + 27.8380s
13.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                     + 29.2584s
14.  Michael Caruso       Nissan                     + 29.5086s
15.  Alex Davison         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford        + 29.7064s
16.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Holden           + 30.0255s
17.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden      + 31.4344s
18.  Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes            + 36.7153s
19.  Dean Fiore           Dumbrell Holden            + 40.5788s
20.  Tim Blanchard        DJR Ford                   + 41.8414s
21.  Scott Pye            Dumbrell Holden            + 42.1581s
22.  David Wall           Britek/BJR Holden          + 42.3978s
23.  Jonny Reid           DJR Ford                   + 42.9018s
24.  Maro Engel           Erebus Mercedes            + 44.3861s
25.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden            + 56.7257s

Retirements:

     Tim Slade            Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes      9 laps
     Garth Tander         HRT Holden                     4 laps
     Alexandre Premat     GRM Holden                     0 laps

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Melbourne V8 Supercars: Fabian Coulthard takes first victory
Next article Melbourne V8 Supercars: Shane van Gisbergen wins race three

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe