Championship leader Mark Winterbottom believes now he has won at the Townsville street circuit with his Ford Falcon FG X, he can win anywhere.
However, ask Fabian Coulthard the same question, and he will say the same thing.
The Brad Jones Racing driver – who has been widely talked about not just because of his third position in the Championship, but his off-contract status at the end of the season – has had some setbacks at the last couple of rounds but sheer car speed has gotten him back in the running.
Caught in accidents on the Saturday in Darwin, and then suffering a pit lane penalty after spinning wheels during a pit stop on Sunday in Townsville, Coulthard didn’t earn the points he looked on track for.
But he still sits third in the Championship, 260 points behind Winterbottom and just 12 behind Craig Lowndes, and believes the Freightliner Racing Commodore will be able to race anyone, anywhere.
“I don’t think I’ve had a podium at Queensland Raceway, but I’ve come close,” Coulthard told v8supercars.com.au, looking forward to the next event on the calendar.
“Our car’s been strong at many tracks we’ve been to this year, where it hasn’t been strong in the past – so [I’m] taking every event as it comes and I think we can go pretty good anywhere.”
While recent focus has been on the Fords, Coulthard has been flying through the pack, driving from eighth to the podium on Saturday in Townsville and recovering for 13th on Sunday after the drive-through penalty.
The 32-year old took his Sunday result in his stride, and while a safety car could have helped, his finishing position was only four places behind Lowndes who he is chasing in the points.
“You just have to take it in your stride basically. We had a quick car, quick enough to be up there on the podium I feel – just one of those days,” he said.
“In a situation like that you can’t wait for a safety car soon enough. Typical, it didn’t happen, that’s just inevitable. There’s not a whole lot you can do, what happened, happened – we just have to carry on, regroup and go again.”
Coulthard thought some of the heartache could’ve been avoided if he had qualified closer to the front. He finished fifth in the session to go through to the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout, but went backwards after his one lap dash, slotting into sixth in the starting order.
“Yeah – I feel like we could have qualified slightly better and given ourselves a better chance. I think the car in race trim is pretty fast, even the strategy we were on at the end there we were able to come from last back to 13th so some people say unlucky, I say it’s not too bad.”
Early on in the race, Coulthard had an entertaining exchange with Garth Tander – who had a fair few battles in the Sunday race on his way to a top five finish.
“That’s what V8 Supercars is all about – entertainment,” Coulthard said of putting on the show.
“It was good and it was fair for once – Garth can be pretty hard to race, but in that instance it was clean and fair and we had a good little battle.”
In contention for the title last year also, Coulthard is known for playing it cool and is more than happy to go under the radar if it means ending the year on top. Having been in the category full-time since 2008, and with BJR since 2012, he now believes he’s in a position to strike and maintain consistency as the enduros, and then December, edge closer.
“I have been trying to do it all my career, it has just finally come into play and I have a car I can deliver the goods with,” Coulthard told v8supercars.com.au in Townsville.
“I just go about my business day in day out, do the best possible job I can and this is the outcome.
“It’s fun, racing is fun. I think I have been on the podium every round this year apart from Tassie so that is a pretty cool stat.”
