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This website is now dedicated to covering the Black Bullets. Current Black Bullets news is now provided on iSportz » with past news archived here for your continued reference.
Glenfords Racing Driver Fabian Coulthard has again finished in the top ten at round 13 of the Championship at Symmons Plains in Tasmania after having to settle for a slow start to his weekend debut at the circuit. Having never been to the circuit before practice was about learning the intricacies of the track and although his lap times were constantly improving he had to settle for a disappointing 26th, only a little over a second off the pace of Lowndes who recorded the fastest time of the session.
His worst qualifying for the season since a 23rd at Perth, Fabian started the first race from the 13th row of the grid. Quickly passing Patrizi and Jones on the start, Fabian worked his way into 16th by the end of the third lap. Mid way through the race, after constant light rain, the team made the decision to bring him in for wets, a move which saw him gain a number of positions to be 14th by lap 32. The final 15 laps saw the Glenfords Racing #111 Falcon storm through the field passing Morris, Tander, McConville, Ingall and Holdsworth who were all now paying the price for staying out on slicks. A fantastic result, making up a total of 17 places, the most of any car in the field, to finish inside the top ten in 9th.
Starting race 2 on the 5th row of the grid, Coulthard was quick to pass #25 car of Bright to gain a position on the start. A safety car on lap 19 saw the field bunch up and with all CPS's completed Fabian was well positioned in 7th place. Holdsworth applied maximum pressure for a number of laps, racing nose to tail with Fabian, before finding his way past. Fabian running wide on the exit of the last turn allowed both Tander and Rick Kelly to also pass, the team settling for a very credible 10th placing.
An uneventful race 3 saw Fabian drop a position to Bright early in the race and a couple more positions during the compulsory pit stops. A coming together between Bright and Patrizi meant Fabian was able to gain back two positions. A shift cut failure at half race distance made hard work of gear changes but the #111 Falcon driver still managed to hold onto 11th placing giving the team 9th place overall for the round, their fifth top ten round finish for the season.
DRIVER #111 – Fabian Coulthard:
"I was ecstatic with how the weekend panned out after qualifying. There were a lot of long faces so I had to pull through in the races to get us to where we should have been. It shows what a 'never give up' attitude can do. It's a credit to all the crew for giving me such a good race car and having the faith in me to get the car back towards the front. After qualifying 26th, then finishing the round in 9th and again being the first Kiwi, that's definitely something to be happy about."
TEAM PRINCIPAL - Paul Cruickshank:
"We were disappointed with qualifying as we thought we would do better that that here but I am extremely pleased with the way the boys all knuckled down and worked hard to get back to where we got to in the end. This result is good for our championship and we are looking forward to turning the car around for Oran Park and finishing on a high."
EVENT DETAILS:
Round 13:
Falken Tasmania Challenge
Symmons Plains Raceway
Launceston
21 – 23 November, 2008
OVERALL ROUND RESULTS:
1. Jamie Whincup 2. Todd Kelly 3. Craig Lowndes 4. Mark Winterbottom 5. Will Davison 9. Fabian Coulthard
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. Jamie Whincup - 3208 2. Mark Winterbottom - 2975
3. Garth Tander - 2788 4. Craig Lowndes - 2619
5. Will Davison - 2375 6. James Courtney - 2224
7. Steven Richards - 2214 8. Rick Kelly - 2194
9. Steven Johnson - 2029 10. Russell Ingall - 2010
13. Fabian Coulthard - 1677
NEXT ROUND:
Round 14:
NRMA Motoring and Services Grand Finale
Oran Park,
Sydney
4 -7 December, 2008
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The views, opinions and content displayed on this webpage are not necessarily those of Pacific Motorsport Limited. Pacific Motorsport Limited takes no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.
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