Coulthard takes win at Winton
SUPERCARS championship leader Scott McLaughlin was upstaged by teammate Fabian Coulthard yesterday in the second race of the Winton SuperSprint.
The Shell V-Power pair started the 67-lap affair on the front row, but McLaughlin almost stalled his start to immediately slip back from pole to eighth.
Ford flyer Coulthard didn’t have to do anything drastic from there as he cantered to the 10th win of his career.
The 35-year-old crossed the line almost 11 seconds ahead of Red Bull Holden speedster Shane van Gisbergen, who claimed another crucial podium in second by backing up his third on Saturday.
A calculated early pit stop from McLaughlin allowed him to regain composure as he recovered ground to remarkably finish third to ensure an all- New Zealand podium.
It was Coulthard’s first victory since triumphing during the Sydney round in August last year, with his best previous result this season being two thirds in Melbourne.
He is the eighth different driver to win a race this year from 14 starts.
“I’m not sure what happened with Scotty, it’s unfortunate because it would’ve been nice to have two Shell cars come through for the first two corners,” Coulthard said.
McLaughlin will enter the four-week break bitterly disappointed after not converting two poles at Winton.
He will head to Darwin on June 15 with a 131-point advantage in the standings over van Gisbergen.
“I’ve had pretty bad ones in the past but I’ll take my good ones and learn from that one I stuffed up,” McLaughlin said.
After an emotional drought-breaking win during the first race at the Victorian circuit, Nissan veteran Rick Kelly did enough to finish fourth in front of teammate Michael Caruso to round out the top-five.