Today’s second 250km Clipsal race around the streets of Adelaide was a tough blow for Bundaberg Red Racing’s Fabian Coulthard, who finished 27th at the end of the 78 lap epic and 16 laps behind the leader.
After finishing yesterday’s race in seventh position, Coulthard went into today’s session full of confidence, but it just wasn’t his race. An error on his fast lap in qualifying earlier in the day put him back in 17th on the grid but he wasn’t deterred.
Hoping to make up ground in the race, Coulthard made a consistent start. He worked hard over the opening half of the race and pitted around lap 25 for his first stop. But it all began to come unstuck when Coulthard experienced an issue with the rear end of the #24 Bundaberg Red Racing Commodore.
He came in just after half race distance for his second stop and the team took the chance to investigate the issue. After finding a problem with the tail-shaft a replacement was made allowing Coulthard to get back out and finish the race.
Coulthard’s fellow Walkinshaw Racing team-mate, Toll HRT’s Garth Tander won the race, James Courtney was second and Mark Winterbottom was third.
The next event on the V8 Supercar calendar is at the Australian Grand Prix in just under two weeks time.
Fabian Coulthard - #24 Bundaberg Red Racing VE Commodore (Qualifying: 17th, 1:21,9002; Race 6: 27th)
“It was disappointing really; I have had that feeling before when we had a tail-shaft let go at Bathurst in 2009. I said to the boys over the radio that we had a bad vibration and it’s getting worse so we need to pit. We pitted and fixed the problem but there’s a difference between a DNF and last and at least we managed to get some points. What else can you say really, I think we have made improvements with the car which is promising. Now we will look to the Grand Prix and hopefully we can have a good outing there.”
Clipsal 500 Race 6 results:
1. Garth Tander, Toll Holden Racing Team
2. James Courtney, Dick Johnson Racing
3. Mark Winterbottom, Ford Performance Racing
4. Shane Van Gisbergen, SP Tools Racing
5. Paul Dumbrell, The Bottle-O Racing
6. Rick Kelly, Kelly Racing
7. Tony D’Alberto, Centaur Racing
8. Steven Johnson, Dick Johnson Racing
9. Jason Richards, Brad Jones Racing
10. Michael Caruso, Fujitsu Racing/GRM
27. Fabian Coulthard, Bundaberg Red Racing
