Photo: V8 Supercars

Fabian Coulthard scores first V8 Supercars victory in Melbourne

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Fabian Coulthard made the most of his pole position of the first race at Melbourne, scoring his maiden V8 Supercars victory despite a hampering safety car period.
“It wasn’t easy but it’s more rewarding to get a race win like that when you have to work for it rather than having it gifted to you,” said Coulthard.

The safety car was brought out as Alexandre Prémat collided with Lee Holdsworth in the first corner. The break meant that Shane van Gisbergen and Jason Bright got ahead of Coulthard.

The Brad Jones Racing driver quickly got past Bright and chased down Van Gisbergen to get past in to the lead with a mere two laps left of the race. Van Gisbergen was unable to finish the race due to a broken gearbox.

Will Davison secured Ford’s first podium finish of the season in third position ahead of the two Red Bull Racing Australia Holdens of Jamie Whincup in fourth and Craig Lowndes in fifth.

Davison’s team mate Mark Winterbottom crossed the line in seventh, but was penalized and moved to 25th position due to an unsafe pit release. The penalty promoted Nissan Norton 360 Racing driver James Moffat to seventh position, his best so far this season, behind Scott McLaughlin in sixth.

Tony D’Alberto was another driver to get penalised. The Holden driver spun Michael Caruso in the third corner of the first lap.

The grid for the second race, with both races being non-championship rounds, is set by the finishing order of this race.