Darwin Supercars: Coulthard pips McLaughlin in Race 1
Fabian Coulthard held off Scott McLaughlin to lead a DJR Team Penske one-two at Hidden Valley, while Shane van Gisbergen’s title hopes took a bit hit with a costly DNF.
Fabian Coulthard, Team Penske Ford
Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images
It was all about the undercut for Coulthard; running third in the early stages of the race, the #12 Penske Ford was first into pitlane on Lap 5. Emerging in clear air, he was able to cycle his way into the effective lead as the stops shook out.
He didn’t get much of a gap put of it though. On Lap 18 polesitter Rick Kelly fired into the Turn 11 wall thanks to a stuck throttle, which meant that as Coulthard finally did pop up in the lead he did so with the pack right on his tail.
He cleared that hurdle with a near perfect restart on Lap 23, but still had to contend with the oldest tyres in the field and mirrors full of teammate Scott McLaughlin.
Coulthard was up to the task, though, coming home 0.3s clear of McLaughlin to slightly extend his points lead.
“Scotty played pretty kind there,” said Coulthard. “To get a one-two, we couldn’t ask for much more.”
For Scott McLaughlin, nothing quite went to plan in the early stages of the race. The Kiwi made a sluggish getaway from the front row, just managing to hold on to second spot, before running off the track at Turn 1 on the second lap trying to get by early leader Rick Kelly and dropped back to sixth.
From there things got better for McLaughlin. He stopped on Lap 7, emerging behind the likes of Coulthard, Tim Slade, and Nick Percat who had all stopped earlier, but able to quickly clear Kelly who popped out of the lane in front of him a lap later.
A slow stop from David Reynolds then helped McLaughlin into fourth as the stops shook out, which he turned into third when he barged past Slade at the restart. Third then became second at the same spot a lap later, McLaughlin clearing Percat to make it a Penske one-two.
While he quickly closed up on the back of Coulthard, McLaughlin was forced to settle for second.
“That was a brain fart on my behalf,” said McLaughlin of his Turn 1 error.
“I was trying to hang it on the cushion there and it didn’t work. Anyway I got away with it. The car was fantastically fast, and Fabian drove a faultless race. We’ve shown we’ve got some pace, but there’s a long way to go. Moving forward, I’m really excited.”
Percat finished a credible third for Brad Jones Racing, using exactly the same strategy as Coulthard to find track position midway through the race. While he couldn’t stop McLaughlin getting past shortly after the restart, Percat was able to hold off Jamie Whincup in the closing laps to bag his first podium in BJR colours.
Chaz Mostert finished fifth behind Whincup, having put the Triple Eight Commodore under pressure at times during the second stint, while Cam Waters was sixth.
Craig Lowndes came out on top off a huge battle with Reynolds to finish seventh, the Erebus driver just eighth after that slow stop took him out of podium contention.
James Moffat and Lee Holdsworth rounded out the Top 10.
Shane van Gisbergen had an absolute shocker, not making the finish. Having opted for a longer first stint, he’d actually moved past Reynolds and into the race lead by Lap 10. But on Lap 18 his Triple Eight Commodore suffered a right-rear tyre failure on the run to Turn 1, sending him into the weeds and giving him a long tour back to pitlane.
He worked his way back to 16th, but contact with Jason Bright on Lap 40 broke his front suspension and took van Gisbergen out of the race for good.
The debacle ruined Garth Tander’s race as well, the Garry Rogers Motorsport Holden driver tangling with van Gisbergen as part of the melee and finishing down in 26th with plenty of steering damage of his own.
Van Gisbergen is now 187 points adrift of championship leader Coulthard.
Cla | # | Driver | Car | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 12 | Fabian Coulthard | Ford Falcon FG-X | 42 | - | |
2 | 17 | Scott McLaughlin | Ford Falcon FG-X | 42 | 0.3776 | 0.378 |
3 | 8 | Nick Percat | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 1.3454 | 1.345 |
4 | 88 | Jamie Whincup | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 1.7691 | 1.769 |
5 | 55 | Chaz Mostert | Ford Falcon FG-X | 42 | 2.3189 | 2.319 |
6 | 6 | Cameron Waters | Ford Falcon FG-X | 42 | 4.1925 | 4.193 |
7 | 888 | Craig Lowndes | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 8.7772 | 8.777 |
8 | 9 | David Reynolds | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 9.3492 | 9.349 |
9 | 34 | James Moffat | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 9.9180 | 9.918 |
10 | 18 | Lee Holdsworth | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 10.6443 | 10.644 |
11 | 14 | Tim Slade | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 11.0409 | 11.041 |
12 | 21 | Tim Blanchard | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 11.4080 | 11.408 |
13 | 19 | Will Davison | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 11.7282 | 11.728 |
14 | 5 | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Falcon FG-X | 42 | 15.3496 | 15.350 |
15 | 56 | Jason Bright | Ford Falcon FG-X | 42 | 16.4882 | 16.488 |
16 | 23 | Michael Caruso | Nissan Altima | 42 | 16.9146 | 16.915 |
17 | 3 | Cameron McConville | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 17.8137 | 17.814 |
18 | 7 | Todd Kelly | Nissan Altima | 42 | 18.4201 | 18.420 |
19 | 28 | Jack Le Brocq | Nissan Altima | 42 | 25.1319 | 25.132 |
20 | 78 | Simona de Silvestro | Nissan Altima | 42 | 29.5878 | 29.588 |
21 | 62 | Alex Rullo | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 33.4820 | 33.482 |
22 | 22 | James Courtney | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 48.7105 | 48.711 |
23 | 2 | Scott Pye | Holden Commodore VF | 42 | 58.5311 | 58.531 |
24 | 4 | Macauley Jones | Holden Commodore VF | 41 | 1 lap | 1 lap |
25 | 99 | Dale Wood | Holden Commodore VF | 41 | 1 lap | 1 lap |
26 | 33 | Garth Tander | Holden Commodore VF | 41 | 1 lap | 1 lap |
DNF | 97 | Shane van Gisbergen | Holden Commodore VF | 38 | ||
DNF | 15 | Rick Kelly | Nissan Altima | 16 |
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