He broke through for his maiden V8 Supercars Championship victory in Tasmania last year and has featured at the front of the pack consistently over the past 12 months. But what is it Fabian Coulthard still wants? A win at home in New Zealand, of course.
“It’d be pretty awesome – I think I’d prefer to win a race in my home country than win one here, if you know what I mean,” Coulthard told v8supercars.com.au. “I’ve ticked this box!”
Brad Jones Racing was victorious at Pukekohe Park Raceway last year, but it was Jason Bright who took the final race win and subsequently earned the meaningful Jason Richards Memorial Trophy.
“The trophy is at its rightful home at the moment at BJR,” Coulthard said.
“Brighty did an awesome job last year to win that trophy.
“If I could keep it here at BJR it would be an awesome thing. JR was a great mate and he was heavily involved obviously here at BJR so it would be nice to see it come back here.”
For Coulthard, last year’s event at Pukekohe was something that could have been. He qualified on ARMOR ALL Pole Position for the second race of the event, but a jumped start cost him a post-race penalty; drama in the following race also meant he was third across the line.
“Obviously I should’ve won a race there last year but I thought I had a flat tyre when I didn’t and I finished on the podium.
“It’s still not a bad weekend – any time you can finish and spray a bit of champagne here, in V8 Supercars, is not a bad weekend.”
All three Kiwi drivers have found their form already this season, Scott McLaughlin, Shane van Gisbergen and Coulthard locking out the grid at Winton, qualifying 1-2-3 in the last race.
It was a welcome result for the Lockwood Commodore driver particularly given qualifying is something the team has struggled with in 2014. He was the third best qualifier last season, but the Kiwi and his crew had been unable to unlock car speed for the one-lap dash at earlier events.
“The car feels great. We can really fight for poles and podiums with it and that’s what I expected…
“I think me and Phil (Keed, race engineer) have worked very well and the relationship is stronger than it ever has been. We still are learning a lot of things as we’re going but it’s nice to be learning things – plenty of other teams aren’t learning anything.”
Team boss Brad Jones said earlier in the week he believed BJR was capable of taking the Championship this year and will “go through people to do it”.
Coulthard isn’t keen to talk about it so early in the season but concedes a healthy haul of points is always the right way to start.
“We’re trucking along ok, and that’s what we need to continue to do,” he said.
For now, focus is just on achieving all he can at the ITM 500 Auckland next week, from April 24-27.
“It’s always nice to race in front of a home crowd. All the other tracks we go to it’s all Australian support for Aussie drivers so it’s the one time of year we get the most support from the Kiwi fans and we appreciate it.”
Coulthard will be part of a drivers’ Q&A at the RSA Fundraising function on Wednesday night, alongside Chaz Mostert, Will Davison, Michael Caruso and hosted by Kiwi favourite Greg Murphy. Tickets are still available here.
