New Zealand’s Fabian Coulthard enjoyed a welcome return to form with a podium finish in today’s race in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship at Winton Raceway in Victoria.
Coulthard sprang into the lead after starting on the front row of the grid, but lost out when he pitted a lap before a safety car period of which a number of other drivers too full advantage with a top-up in fuel for the 200km race.
As a result he slotted back into the pack in seventh after his second stop but the Team Penske Holden driver found excellent speed on fresh tyres to force his way up to third place behind winner Tim Slade and defending champion Mark Winterbottom.
“It was not a bad day and an awesome recovery after yesterday. We tried out best and today third was the best we could do,” Coulthard said after dueling with Winterbottom over the last 10 laps.
Winterbottom got his strategy perfect, taking advantage of the safety car, to claim second and move to the top of the championship table, just ahead of New Zealand’s Scott McLaughlin who moved to the top of the rankings yesterday after his second placing in Saturday’s race.
After a strong start today McLaughlin was another to get on the wrong side of the safety car and ultimately would finish in 11th place.
The globetrotting Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen drove impressively after a mistake in qualifying saw him start back in 12th place on the grid, finishing fourth just behind Coulthard to remain in fifth place in the championship.
Of the other Kiwis, Coulthard’s podium has seen him improve to 14th in the championship after 11 races, with Chris Pither, 18th today and 24th in the championship and Andre Heimgartner 21st in the race and 25th overall.
It proved a double success for the popular Slade, who waited 227 races to gain his maiden win yesterday and followed that with a faultless display and team strategy for his second victory for the Brad Jones Racing team who are based close to the Winton track.
The championship moves to Darwin for the next stop on 17-19 June.
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