Fabian Coulthard has raced thousands of laps during his V8 Supercars career, but none more important than the next.
The Holden driver will have one shot at turning his provisional pole position into the real thing for the Bathurst 1000 in Saturday’s Top 10 shootout.
“I think it will be the biggest lap of my life,” said the 251-race veteran, who topped the timesheets on Friday for a new qualifying record of two minutes, 5.6080 seconds.
“I’m the last car out of the 10 to start my lap, so I’ll know what everyone’s done by then.
“I’ll be able to focus, put my head down and do the best I can.”
Mount Panorama has rarely been kind to Coulthard in his previous 10 starts.
He was involved in an epic crash on the opening lap of the 2010 Great Race, rolling his car half-a-dozen times after clocking nearly 290km/h down The Chase and into at what’s considered the fastest corner in the world for touring cars.
He’s crashed twice since. His best result is 10th – in 2008.
“I feel like I am dragging a monkey on my back and I’m pretty keen to shake it,” he said.
“It is a joint that I have not had a lot of luck in the past.
“We have always been quick enough but we’ve had mechanical dramas or we’ve made mistakes or the strategy hasn’t gone our way.
“Hopefully this year is the year.”
Coulthard’s will be one of six Holdens vying for the pole position – but championship leader Jamie Whincup isn’t one of them.
The four-time Bathurst winner crashed during qualifying and will start from 24th on the grid.
He will be joined at the back by two of Ford Performance Racing’s fastest men – David Reynolds in 25th and Chaz Mostert in 26th.
Reynolds was forced out of Friday’s session early after a heavy shunt into a concrete barrier, while Mostert excluded for passing a car under red flags.
Defending race champion Mark Winterbottom and Jack Perkins are the only Fords in the top 10, with Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin and Nissan’s James Moffat the other shootout contenders.
Only three polesitters have won the 1000km classic in the past 15 years.
All drivers will have a 50-minute practice session on Saturday morning, before the shootout from 5.10pm (AEDT).
