Coulthard's Confidence Booster

Fabian Coulthard has revealed his breakout 2013 V8 Supercars Championship has provided a valuable confidence boost.

The English-born, New Zealand-raised, Melbourne domiciled racer always believed he was good enough to race at the front in V8 Supercars but now he’s proved it.

In five years running full-time in the Championship between 2008 and 2012, Coulthard’s win, pole and overall top 10 pointscore Championship finishes record read 0, 0, 0.

Before 2013 he had managed to break into the top three in a race only once – at Symmons Plains in 2009 when he finished third. His best Championship overall finish was 11th in 2012.

But already this season, heading into this weekend’s crucial Sargent Security Phillip Island 360, Coulthard has scored three wins in Championship races, eight other top three finishes and qualified on pole four times in the Lockwood Racing Holden Commodore VF he affectionately dubs Tallulah.

All that has added up to fifth place in the Championship 396 points adrift of leader Craig Lowndes and he is still in with a more than theoretical shot at the title if he performs at his best and some other results go his way.

While Coulthard won the Porsche Carrera Cup in 2005, being a consistent front-runner is a new position for the 31-year old in V8 Supercars and he admits it has helped reinforce his self-belief and confidence.

“This year has been good for me in terms of ticking a lot of boxes I have wanted to achieve in V8 Supercars; poles, race wins and things like that. For me that is awesome for confidence and it just restores the faith with myself that I can do the job.

“You have to have an element of self-belief and I knew that I had the ability. I have won races in every other category I have been in and it was just a matter of time before I got the right group of people around me to do the job.”

Coulthard’s pace has been inextricably linked with the emergence of Brad Jones Racing as a consistent Championship force, the Albury team revelling in the level playing field Car of the Future has provided.

“We have had a good car and it has been fast pretty much all year,” Coulthard said. “We lost some development time being rained out of a few test days and things like that, but we have made a few adjustments in the last couple of races which has made it a better race car.

“I think it all stems back to relationships,” he adds. “This is my second year working with Phil (Keed – engineer), we understand each other, we have got continuity, we don’t need to exercise both sides of the scale to find out what we want or what we need, which speeds up that process.”

Coulthard’s teammate Jason Bright in the Team BOC Commodore has also shown strong form and lies eighth in the chase for the Championship, 552 points off the pace. He also still has a shot at the title with a maximum 600 points up for grabs at Phillip Island and the season-ending Sydney 500 in early December.

Coulthard isn’t kidding himself that he has the best shot at the title – Lowndes, his Red bull teammate Jamie Whincup and the FPR Pepsi Max drivers Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison are the favourites – but it’s fair to say he still ponders what might have been if not for some unfortunate DNFs including a suspension breakage that robbed him and co-driver Luke Youlden of third place on Saturday at the ARMOR ALL Gold Coast 600.

“I have already thought about that, don’t worry,” he said.

One other stat that bodes well for Coulthard is the consistent strength of his qualifying in 2013. He averages sixth on the grid, only behind Whincup (4.8) and Winterbottom (5.7).

Qualifying at the front is always a crucial step toward posting a quality result in V8 Supercars events, says Coulthard.

“I have always said qualifying is the easiest time to pass cars so let’s make a car that can do the job. Normally when you are in front you stay there.

“Most of the tracks we go to are pretty difficult to pass, but I think Phillip Island is a little bit different in that aspect because there are some passing opportunities.

“But qualifying at the front is half the battle done. The other key elements will be the pit stops on Sunday so that will be important too, as will having a fast car.”

Coulthard’s finishing record at Phillip Island hasn’t been strong, with a ninth in 2009 his best result. Given his 2013 statistics, there is every chance he will improve on that this year.

“We will play it as it comes and we will do the best job we can,” he said.