Kiwi Coulthard happy on winners’ list

Like his compatriot cricketers across the Tasman, Fabian Coulthard attributes his maiden Adelaide V8 win to just hanging on.

The dramatic V8 Supercars race unfolded as New Zealand eked out a single-wicket cricket World Cup victory over Australia in Auckland.

The Kiwi driver said hearing the cricket result provided inspiration.

“Of course it did,” he said.

“It’s pretty good a Kiwi won today and we could win the cricket as well.”

Coulthard was the sole New Zealander in an interview room full of Australians, showing his modest side on how it was achieved.

Whincup, who took race one on Saturday in a canter, suffered a puncture while leading the second race, handing the lead to the Brad Jones Racing driver.

“It was unlucky for Jamie, obviously he was pretty quick, it would have taken a fair bit to get past,” Coulthard said.

“Racing’s all about being there to pick up the pieces.”

The victory was Coulthard’s first at the Clipsal 500 after ten years on the Supercars circuit.

He stopped short of saying he would be a title contender in 2015 but put no limits on what he could achieve: “I definitely think we’re heading in the right direction.

“We’ll just keep working at it, chipping away, being consistent and getting the points, we’ll worry about (the championship) in December.”

Coulthard’s day contrasted most sharply with Scott McLaughlin, who crashed out before race one began and was penalised off the podium in race two.

A faulty oil pump caused his Volvo to catch fire on a warm-up lap, while his false start in race two caused a 10-second penalty to be applied twice.

McLaughlin had a second penalty applied when he was adjudged to have taken his penalty wrongly, a decision his boss Garry Rogers called “petty bullshit”.

“What can you say,” McLaughlin said.

“I thought (we completed the penalty) fair and square … I went back to eighth and worked my way through (the field),” he said.

“But that’s the rules.

“I jumped the start and was a bit too eager and stuffed it up.”

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