Coulthard happy to take one for the team
Fabian Coulthard says he’s willing to sacrifice a race victory at Pukekohe this weekend to help Scott McLaughlin win the championship.
McLaughlin is locked in a tense battle with Shane van Gisbergen to win this year’s Supercars championship, and to help van Gisbergen win the title he’ll have his Triple Eight team-mates Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup in his corner.
Coulthard would love to win in Pukekohe this weekend, which would be a highlight of a disappointing season for him, but if he’s first going into the last few laps in a race and he has McLaughlin just behind, expect him to pull over.
‘‘It would be nice [to win], but we have to take into consideration car No 17,’’ Coulthard said of McLaughlin’s Ford Falcon FG X.
‘‘If he [McLaughlin] is in a position to get more points, we’ll have to sacrifice a win to help out.’’
Coulthard said he’s also willing to forgo a good result for himself if a safety car comes out and both cars come into the pits.
Normal procedure is for the leading car in a team to get fuel and tyres first, while his team-mate waits – usually impatiently – just behind.
But this weekend and in the final round of the season in Newcastle, McLaughlin will get to pit first.
‘‘We’ll do what we can,’’ said Coulthard. ‘‘We won the team’s championship as a team last year, so it would be nice if we could get a driver’s championship at Shell V-Power Racing.’’
Motor racing drivers are highly competitive and the person they want to beat more than anyone else is their team-mate, but Coulthard is willing to put aside personal goals and take one for the team.
‘‘I’m sure if I was in Scott’s position and he was in mine, it would be the same,’’ he said. ‘‘But I haven’t been very lucky this year and had a few things that haven’t gone our way, which has put us back a bit.
‘‘But it’s all learning, we’ll come back next year with a Mustang and hopefully I’ll be back in the championship hunt like I was this time last year.’’ the Triple Eight guys are the benchmark, so we have to lift a bit.
‘‘But we’ll focus on our performance, what we’re doing and try to improve our cars the best we can as a team.
‘‘We need to focus on us – if we get sidetracked and focus on everyone else, then we lose our focus.’’
The top 10 shootout is back at Pukekohe this year for the first time since 2013, but only for tomorrow’s race.
At a circuit where overtaking isn’t easy, the shootout will have more importance at Pukekohe than other venues.
‘‘I enjoy the shootout,’’ Coulthard said.
‘‘You’ve got the track to yourself and to be back home in New Zealand and do it in front of a Kiwi crowd, I’m sure that would be an awesome feeling.
‘‘We have a lot of support for our team, so hopefully we can put on a good show.’’