DJR PACE ATTACK

SUPERCARS championship leader Fabian Coulthard must lift his qualifying game if he is to keep pace with flying Ford teammate Scott McLaughlin.

Gold Coaster Coulthard has done a stellar job to lead the standings since April but his advantage has been slashed to 10 points with McLaughlin striking a rich vein of form in recent rounds.

Former Volvo driver McLaughlin has started nine of 12 races this year on the front row of the grid and has now outqualified Coulthard in five consecutive runs.

The latter admitted matching McLaughlin over a single lap is no small task.

“As a driver, we’re not perfect,” Coulthard said.

“So for me that’s an area I can work on.

“I feel like our race pace is good but yeah definitely in a qualifying situation Scotty has had the upper hand. We just need to pay a little bit more conscious effort of trying to maximise that situation but yeah I don’t think it is not achievable (to beat him in qualifying).”

He noted however, that any differences in lap times have generally been small.

“It’s not like it’s five tenths I am outqualified by, it’s a tenth or half a tenth here and there,” he said.

“At the end of the day trying to find a small bit is the case of either braking a little bit later or getting on the throttle a little bit sooner to combat that.”

The Darwin Triple Crown last weekend proved fruitful for DJR Team Penske with their drivers taking a race win each to sweep the round.

Coulthard though had to overcome a visibly battling No.12 Falcon in the Sunday race to finish fourth and collect more valuable points.

“If fourth is a bad day, we’ll take that. At the end of the day, the positives are much greater so I’m pretty excited for the future,” he said.

Having been with midfield teams for much of his career, Coulthard is relishing the chance to be regularly running at the front.

He re-signed with the team last night on a new deal.

“It’s a great feeling now knowing that you are in a competitive car,” he said.

“But for us, we don’t need to forget our competition. The likes of Triple Eight.”

Picture: GETTY IMAGES Fabian Coulthard (rear) is keen to keep up with Scott McLaughlin (front) after another strong weekend for DJR Team Penske in Darwin.