Top 10 Finishes For McLaughlin and Coulthard at Ipswich

July 27, 2019

Fabian Coulthard - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford

Practice 3 – 16th (Fastest Lap: 1m09.8916s)
Qualifying – 9th (Fastest Lap: 1m09.1667s)
Race 19 – 10th (Fastest Lap: 1m10.1510s)
 
Scott McLaughlin - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford

Practice 3 – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m09.1926s)
Qualifying – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m08.6369s)
Race 19 – 4th (Fastest Lap: 1m09.9359s)
 
RECAP: 
The mark of a champion sportsperson or team is not necessarily how they win, but how they fare on days when things do not go their way.
 
Race 19 at the Ipswich SuperSprint was one of those races for the Shell V-Power Racing Team, and the team banded together to pull a strong result despite plenty of challenges. 
 
Scott McLaughlin took a fantastic pole position earlier in the day, the 58th of his career and the 100th in history for Dick Johnson Racing/DJR Team Penske since the team was formed in 1981.
 
Fabian Coulthard has struggled to find a happy balance in his car all weekend, and the day continued in a similar vein with him taking ninth place in qualifying.
 
The race would be a tough one, with McLaughlin getting bundled back into third place on the opening lap by the hard-charging Jamie Whincup and Will Davison.
 
He took his pitstop early, however issues with the left-side wheels meant it was a slow stop, with around five-seconds lost in the lane. He pushed hard across the laps immediately after the stop, managing to get himself up to second place at the conclusion of the pit stops.
 
Davison and Chaz Mostert were able to use their fresher tyres across the back half of the race to pass McLaughlin, dropping him to fourth at the finish. It was a solid points haul on a difficult day, which saw his lead extend to 336 points over Coulthard.
 
Coulthard's race started well, getting up to seventh across the opening laps. He started to experience brake knock-off issues which saw him head into the Turn 3 gravel trap, heading to pit lane on lap 18 to replace the flat-spotted front left.
 
He came out in p20, and then worked hard across the closing laps to move forward. Despite fighting continuing brake issues, and hard battles through the mid-pack he earned himself a 10th place finish. He remains second in the points, and is now 176 points in front of Shane van Gisbergen. The team's lead in the Teams' points is 814 points over Triple Eight.
 
COULTHARD QUOTE: "We went to what we started with set-up wise when we rolled out of the truck yesterday for qualifying, which wasn't ideal not really knowing what I had under me. I ending up in the Top 10 wasn't too bad considering. We got a good start, and I had the thread the needle through a few cars early, but it was just one of those days. Had some good battles coming through the pack, they battle hard back there! I haven't had to pass too many cars this year, so today I was brushing up on those skills. Tomorrow is a new day, and I've got a great team behind me. We'll get our heads around it."

MCLAUGHLIN QUOTE: "We a bit of a struggle there. Once we dropped back a little at the start, we made it harder for ourselves as the front tyres get a bit hot when you're following people. Our car definitely wasn't as good following as it is in clear air, so we have something to work on. It wasn't too bad, considering we had a bad stop and to still finish fourth is pretty good. Jamie was really fast, it was good battling with him in Will. That's what it's all about. We'll sort it out overnight and have a good go at it tomorrow. We win together and lose together, and this is a strong team. We will bounce back."