Flying Fabian Coulthard is leading a Kiwi domination of the 2013 V8 Supercars wins column as he heads into his home event of the championship at Pukekohe this weekend.
Including the non-championship Australian Grand Prix meeting as well as last weekend’s breakthrough double in Tasmania, the London-born Auckland-raised 30-year old has already won five races this year.
Fellow New Zealanders Shane van Gisbergen and rookie sensation Scott McLaughlin have also won one race, leaving Craig Lowndes and Jason Bright to fly the Aussie flag with a victory apiece.
Coulthard’s performance in his BJR Lockwood Racing Holden VF Commodore deservedly earns him favourites status for the ITM 400 Auckland, placing him in prime contention to add more Kiwi race wins at Pukekohe to the incredible nine registered by Greg Murphy.
However, Coulthard was playing it cool in the aftermath of his Symmons Plains heroics.
“It’s awesome to get two race wins and to go back home obviously full of confidence after winning a couple of races is critical,” he said.
“I am pretty ecstatic. I might not show it because I am not an emotional type of person, but it’s been a good weekend, all the guys have worked very hard in the off-season and given us a car we can fight very hard with.”
Emotional or not, Coulthard admitted winning the newly struck Jason Richards Memorial Trophy – named in honour of his Kiwi predecessor in the BJR squad who died of cancer in 2011 – would mean much to him and the team.
“I don’t think you can put words on it, winning the Jason Richards trophy, that is pretty sentimental to all of us at BJR.”
But having used his 1-3-1 run at Symmons to boost himself from 22nd to seventh in the championship, Coulthard has other motivations to continue his good form.
“We have a lot of work to do – the key is to finish races, so we will take each round and each race as it comes and make the most of our chances.
“Our cars are very strong and I think now we have equal machinery with everyone else that is the true key. I was driving around in a car that was 2008 spec with a few updates here and there. Now we have Car of the Future, every car is virtually identical.”
The NZ round of the V8 Supercars championship returns to a modified Pukekohe Park Raceway after five years on the streets of Hamilton, where van Gisbergen was the sole Kiwi race winner in his Stone Brothers Racing Falcon in 2011.
He heads home this time in a Holden after controversially splitting with the Stones last year, but says he doesn’t expect to cop much flak from the fans.
“I am just there to go racing and hopefully they support me,” said the 23-year old Aucklander. “It will be good, it is always good racing at home. They tend to support the Kiwi drivers so I’m just going to push on as usual.”
Like Coulthard, van Gisbergen is also recovering from a Clipsal failure – although he fought back brilliantly to win the Sunday race in Adelaide. His 7-12-9 run at Symmons in the Tekno Autosports VIP Pet Foods Commodore was hampered by going the wrong way on set-up in qualifying on Sunday. Heading home he lays ninth in the championship.
“I will just go there and do the best I can,” he said. “If we get a top five that will be awesome and any better than that will be pretty cool too. We had a DNF at the first race in Adelaide and we are still recovering from that, so if we keep getting points I’ll be stoked.”
While van Gisbergen described Pukekohe as “just another race” he conceded collecting the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy would be a highlight.
“You don’t think about it unless it actually happens but it would be amazing for one of the Kiwis to win it. The emotion would be pretty cool. But we have bigger things to worry about, we have to get the cars better and myself better to fight for that.”
After two championship rounds where he has consistently qualified and raced in the top 10, 19-year old Dunlop Series champ McLaughlin is fifth in the championship in his GRM Fujitsu Commodore and heads home with a full diary of pre-event promotional activities to fulfil.
“We are just sorting through my schedule now and it’s pretty hectic,” the Christchurch native told v8supercars.com.au. “I love the attention, it’s pretty cool.
“But I have a job to do and I need to manage how much time I give to the media and the fans, but also go out and drive and hopefully come back with some results as well. Going to Pukekohe is like going to any other championship round, just go there and go hard.”
Like his compatriots, McLaughlin has yet to sample the circuit upgrades that include three new corners on the back straight. But he is confident he will cope with the challenge.
“All I have ever seen is the video on the V8 Supercars website, but I have driven around Pukekohe enough that I should be alright. A couple of the turns are new but I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like.”
Interestingly, of the four Kiwis in the field, Coulthard is the only one to have raced a V8 Supercar at the Pukekohe circuit – van Gisbergen, McLaughlin and Wilson Security DJR driver Jonny Reid are yet to steer a Supercar at their home track.
