Wilson Security Racing Team’s horror run continues at Surfers Paradise with the weekends results amounting to a very disappointing score card of 5 DNF’s, a 13th, 22nd and a 26th . After a horror run of DNF’s at the endurance races for full time drivers Fabian Coulthard and Michael Patrizi, the team was looking to return to it’s early season form and regain some of the lost momentum which has seen them drop well outside the top ten in the Championship.
Practice on Friday saw both cars spent the majority of these sessions in the bottom 50% and then they failed to make the top ten shootout. Michael in the #333 struggled with the BF in 27th whilst Fabian in the #111 FG, although progressing to the 2nd leg of qualifying would finish the day in 17th.
Race one for the weekend was more of the same for Fabian Coulthard in the #111 car who suffered his third consecutive DNF after hitting the wall at turn 3 on lap 15. Michael, who ironically hit the same wall some 9 laps later would still finish the race with his #333 Falcon placed 22nd. The second race on the Saturday saw Fabian break the curse in the #111 car finishing 13th (lucky for some!) and Michael, still struggling late in the race with brakes, finished 26th. A little disappointed with the overall results for Saturday the team was keen to put it all behind them and concentrate on Sundays qualifying which would determine their starting positions for the first of Sundays races.
The twenty minute qualifying session on the Sunday was for all 29 cars and meant that traffic would play a huge part in the drivers ability to put down a good lap. Fabian qualified back in 17th with Michael further down the field in 26th which would make hard work of the race later in the day.
Starting back in the field always carries a higher risk of getting caught up in the first corner carnage at the start of any race. Unfortunately this couldn’t have been any more evident for Fabian in the #111 car who after making a great start appeared to have been tagged by another car sending him offline and, along with an innocent Cameron McConville in car #14, crashing into the wall before they even reached turn 1. Fortunately Fabian was uninjured in the incident but the #111 car was unable to be repaired and would fail to take part in the second race of the day.
Michael Patrizi was travelling well in the race and had progressed through the field up four places to 21st when on lap 8 he reported a loss of oil pressure. Trying to avoid any further engine damage, Michael parked the car on the circuit between turns 10 and 11, also suffering a DNF.
The #333 car was repaired for the start the final race of the weekend. Unfortunately the team discovered a recurring engine issue when the car was started to head out onto the grid and it was returned to the garage alongside the #111 car and would remain there for the duration of the race.
An absolute horror weekend for the team, which simply escapes words, has seen Fabian drop to 20th in the Championship and Michael to 27th.
Driver #111 Car – Fabian Coulthard:
“The weekend was looking good. We didn’t have the best qualifying but probably had the best race pace we have had all year. A disappointing weekend but we have made some gains in other areas. Unfortunately the boys have a bit of work to do.”
Driver #333 Car – Michael Patrizi:
“What a disappointing weekend full of problems. What can you say!”
Team Principal – Paul Cruickshank:
“I am just really disappointed. The enduros were really disappointing and we were using this round to turn things around. I really don’t know what we need to do.”
See also
-Winterbottom unstoppable at Nikon SuperGP weekend
Championship Standings:
1. Whincup 2605
2. W.Davison 2573
3. Tander 2316
4. Lowndes 2175
5. Winterbottom 1862
6. Johnson 1838
7. R.Kelly 1658
8. Holdsworth 1655
9. Ingall 1586
10. Caruso 1500
20th - Fabian Coulthard 1203
27th - Michael Patrizi 740
Team Championship Standings:
1. HRT 4579
2. Team Vodafone 4412
3. Jim Beam Racing 3334
4. FPR 3176
5. Garry Rogers Motorsport 3162
12th - Wilson Security Racing 2083
