Gold Coast 600: Qualifying, Top 10 Shootout, Race 26

October 26, 2019

Fabian Coulthard & Tony D’Alberto - No. 12 Shell V-Power Racing Ford

Qualifying – 7th (Fastest Lap: 1m10.6669s)
Top 10 Shootout – 6th (Fastest Lap: 1m10.7531s)
Race 26 – 9th (Fastest Lap: 1m11.9276s)
 
Scott McLaughlin & Alex Prémat - No. 17 Shell V-Power Racing Ford

Qualifying – 3rd (Fastest Lap: 1m10.5190s)
Top 10 Shootout – 1st (Fastest Lap: 1m10.0787s)
Race 26 – 3rd (Fastest Lap: 1m11.4688s)
 
RECAP: Scott McLaughlin and Alex Premat took a podium finish in today’s opening race of the Gold Coast 600 around the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit.
 
Starting from pole, Premat ran a solid opening stint before handing the car to McLaughlin in second place on lap 34. It was then up to McLaughlin to try to chase down the Triple Eight Holdens, however it wasn’t to be with third the best the team could manage today.
 
Fabian Coulthard and Tony D’Alberto finished inside the Top 10 on a day that saw them last early in the race following an incident with Car 22 on lap four that saw D’Alberto have to take to the escape road at turn four.
 
They then mounted a strong recovery drive, paired with good strategy that saw them launch through the field across the 300km race to finish ninth.
 
Tomorrow the Supercars field will again take to the track for Qualifying, a Top 10 Shootout and 300km race in the afternoon.
 
COULTHARD QUOTE: "Never good to be spun around and be back to last early in any race, but Tony did a great job on the recovery and then I got in and was able to get a few more positions. We'll aim for a clean race tomorrow and hopefully grab a podium."

MCLAUGHLIN QUOTE: "We just didn’t quite have the pace today, third was about all it had in it I think. We’ve got a little bit to work on tonight, we know we’ve got a fast qualifying car so we should be able to start at the front and hopefully if we can have a good race car and it can be a bit better on the tyres we should be right."

D’ALBERTO QUOTE: "Frustrating to get knocked off track and pushed back to last early in the race. Car 12 was fast today, as Fabs showed late in the race. Hopefully tomorrow is kinder to us and we can get a solid result."

PRÉMAT QUOTE: "It was nice to stand on the podium here on the Gold Coast again today, and to get another surfboard trophy. The car was pretty good, but we can definitely improve it for tomorrow so to be third is good. Good points to help Scott in the championship, so hopefully we can do more tomorrow."