» V8s: Coulthard grabs Race 1 win in Tasmania

Fabian Coulthard has finally broken through to claim his first championship event race win in the V8 Supercars, narrowly edging out Jamie Whincup in a closely-fought two-part race today at Symmons Plains.

The result caps off an impressive run of form shown by the Kiwi since the start of the season. Coulthard won three of the four non-championship support races during the Australian Grand Prix weekend, and today’s result marks his first visit to the top step of the podium in the main game.

After qualifying his Brad Jones Racing Holden on the front row of the grid earlier today, he had to make sure he was in contention for the second leg of the series’ new ‘60/60’ format races, which are split into two 60-kilometre sprints separated by a fifteen-minute half-time break.

He did enough by remaining glued to the rear bumper of polesitter Jamie Whincup in the opening leg, before setting up his victory in the second leg with a brilliant side-by-side duel with the champion on the second lap of that race.

His move on Whincup began at the Turn 4 hairpin and took over a kilometre to complete as they battled along the circuit’s back straight; he eventually got the lead into the final corner.

From that point, Coulthard remained in control, easing out to a one-second lead which was only diminished by a late Safety Car interruption for marshals to rescue Maro Engel’s spun AMG from the gravel.

Whincup had to fend off a late race charge from Mark Winterbottom, who was the best-placed Ford runner in third, while teammate Will Davison finished two spots back, behind Coulthard’s teammate Jason Bright and the HRT Holden of Garth Tander, who staged a brutal battle for fourth place in both heats.

Craig Lowndes surrendered his early lead in the Drivers’ Championship after a poor run in the second race. He made contact with Shane van Gisbergen on the opening lap and sustained a puncture, before losing more time with a gearbox problem. He finished a lap down and last of the remaining runners.

2013 V8 Supercars Tasmania 365 – Race 1 Final Classification (50 laps):

	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Fabian Coulthard	Lockwood Racing / Brad Jones Racing	1:17:41.5215
2.	Jamie Whincup	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 1.1381
3.	Mark Winterbottom	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 1.3025
4.	Jason Bright	Team BOC / Brad Jones Racing	+ 1.9895
5.	Garth Tander	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 2.2455
6.	Will Davison	Pepsi Max Crew / Ford Performance Racing	+ 2.5533
7.	Shane van Gisbergen	VIP Petfoods / Tekno Autosports	+ 4.2804
8.	Scott McLaughlin	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 4.7574
9.	James Courtney	Holden Racing Team / TWR	+ 4.9605
10.	Jonathon Webb	Tekno Autosports	+ 6.5118
11.	David Wall	Wilson Security Racing / Brad Jones Racing	+ 6.8602
12.	Tony D’Alberto	HIFLEX Racing / Tony D’Alberto Racing	+ 7.4218
13.	Alex Davison	Jeld-Wen Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 8.4568
14.	David Reynolds	Bottle-O Racing / Ford Performance Racing	+ 8.9869
15.	Russell Ingall	SuperCheap Auto Racing / TWR	+ 10.3004
16.	Michael Caruso	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 10.8398
17.	Tim Blanchard	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 11.6810
18.	Scott Pye	EKOL Racing / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 12.4260
19.	James Moffat	Norton 360 Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 13.2957
20.	Rick Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	+ 13.5359
21.	Alexandre Prémat	Fujitsu Racing / Garry Rogers Motorsport	+ 14.0763
22.	Tim Slade	Heavy Haulage Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 14.1914
23.	Lee Holdsworth	IRWIN Racing / Erebus Motorsport	+ 14.4314
24.	Jonny Reid	Wilson Security Racing / Dick Johnson Racing	+ 15.7686
25.	Dean Fiore	Dodo Insurance / Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport	+ 19.6358
26.	Craig Lowndes	Red Bull Racing AU / Triple 8 Engineering	+ 1 lap
	Not Classified
DNF.	Maro Engel	SP Tools Racing / Erebus Motorsport	41 laps
DNF.	Todd Kelly	Jack Daniel’s Racing / Nissan Motorsport	25 laps