Fabian Coulthard is confident Brad Jones Racing will see an upswing in form at the coming Fitness Plus Phillip Island 400.
Despite a dramatic enduro season for the Lockwood Commodore – and the BJR team in general – fortunately the free-flowing 4.4km circuit couldn’t be more different to the treacherous streets of the Gold Coast, and is one that has suited the team’s cars in the past.
“Providing we roll the cars out of the truck somewhere close and we can fine-tune from there, I think I’ll be in with a relatively good shot,” Coulthard told v8supercars.com.au ahead of this wekend’s hit-out.
“The track’s relatively high grip, our cars normally go well on high grip tracks … we’ve, sort of, struggled in the past at places where we have to use a lot of kerb and obviously the Gold Coast [last round] is one of those places, so we were unable to qualify very well … but Phillip Island couldn’t be any further from what we’ve come from.”
Last year the Kiwi finished second in the first race at Phillip Island, and nabbed ARMOR ALL Pole Position from teammate Jason Bright by a mere 0.18 seconds in the weekend’s first run.
“I got pole there last year, we stood on the podium, so looking forward to getting to Phillip Island. Hopefully we can get some good points and … cement that top five position in the Championship.”
Over the past few events, Coulthard hasn’t been able to replicate the strong success of the start of the season.
He was third in the Championship after Townsville in July, but is now in fifth and just 45 points ahead of young Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner Chaz Mostert, who has stated all year his goal is to finish in the top five.
But the Lockwood racer is determined to not just to hold on to fifth, but finish as high on the ladder as he can – though first is mathematically impossible with Jamie Whincup’s lead 643 points ahead of the Kiwi.
“Look, I’d like to win the Championship,” Coulthard told v8supercars.com.au when asked if top five was a considerable goal.
“For us, that’s probably out of reach, so we’ll be going for the best possible results we can get come the end of the year.”
Whincup’s lead stretches to 402 ahead of Mark Winterbottom, and Coulthard believes his Red Bull rival will achieve that record-breaking sixth Championship title from here.
“That’s pretty much a round and a half, so things would have to go drastically wrong for him not to clinch his sixth title – and that’s an awesome achievement.
“To be the most successful V8 Supercar driver of all-time, there’s obviously a fair bit of credibility there.
“So I’d be surprised if Jamie didn’t win. Like I said, he’d have to have something considerably disastrous in the next couple of rounds to not get it.”
News broke last week that sponsor Lockwood would depart the team next year, and Coulthard was sad to see them go. The team is set to announce sponsorship plans in the coming weeks.
