Coulthard wants Championship

Fabian Coulthard believes a switch to DJR Team Penske offers him the best opportunity to win the V8 Supercars Championship in the near future.

While the quick Kiwi admitted there would be a building phase for the team as it expanded to two cars for next season, Coulthard said the opportunity to sign for a team carrying the name of two legends was too good to pass up.

"I've kept an eye on the progress of this team and I feel like it's heading in the right direction," Coulthard said.

"Obviously I want to be part of such an iconic brand ... I'm expecting to have a building phase but I'm all about the bigger picture and the chance to win Championships and I feel like this is my best opportunity."

The 33-year old - who has won five V8 Supercars races including the second at the Clipsal 500 this year - has been a front-running Championship contender in recent years with Brad Jones Racing.

His sights are set on podium finishes next year as well, though it could take some time to adapt to the Ford Falcon FG X.

It was not confirmed how long his deal with DJR Team Penske was for.

"I'll have to learn the car and things like that - so there's going to be a building phase. But you don't win a championship in the first round - we've got al. year to achieve that," Coulthard said.

"Obviously we'll start off by hoping for podiums and things like that, but I feel there's going to be a slight building phase but I hope the building phase isn't going to be too long."

Coulthard will be joined at DJR Team Penske by his current BJR engineer Phil Keed.

"It's good he's ended up here and I've ended up here as well but we'll see how that pans out in time," Coulthard said.

"I think the driver-engineer relationship is important, so the fact that he ended up here obviously would've helped my decision a little bit."

Having run full-time in the category since 2006, Dick Johnson said Coulthard had shown his worth on-track.

"To be quite honest, I think Fabian has got the runs on the board ... he's the obvious choice," Johnson said.

"Quite frankly, Fabian has really, really proved himself over a number of years and he's at the right stage where I feel he could certainly benefit our team immensely.

"And when you look at it, there's not a huge amount of talent out there."