19th April, 2009
Highest Placed Kiwi for the Weekend – Again!

Fabian Coulthard from Wilson Security Racing, has again, for the second year in a row emerged the highest placed Kiwi for the weekend at the Hamilton 400 in New Zealand.

The trek accross the Tasman to the Hamilton 400 was seen as a bit of a homecoming for the team at Wilson Security Racing. With Team Principal Paul Cruickshank, driver Fabian Coulthard and a significant number of crew being natives of New Zealand. The team was also the official Hamilton ambassador team for the event and expectations were high.

The start to the race meeting was reasonably low key with the team providing the Mayor of Hamilton, Mr Bob Simcock with the ride of his life as he passengered in the #111 FG Falcon, driven by Fabian Coulthard for a hot lap around the tight street circuit.

Getting down to the business end of the weekend, consistently good times in practice saw both the Wilson Security Racing Falcons well positioned and confident for a good weekend. Qualifying turned out to be disappointing for the entire team with both Fabian and Michael being knocked out after the first session, the #111 car qualifying 21st and the #333 car back in 26th.

A good clean start in race 1 saw Fabian in the #111 Falcon move up into 18th and Michael in the #333 Falcon into 24th. For Fabian in the #111 car there was a couple of near misses as a number of cars found themselves parked in the wall at turn 7 within the first ten laps.

The Wilson Security Racing cars pitted within one lap of each other, Fabian on lap 24 and Michael lap 25. Both cars were serviced with 4 new tyres and fuel before returning to the field in 16th and 19th. With all stops completed by just after half race distance the #111 Falcon was positioned well in 8th and the #333 Falcon in 15th. A battle ensued behind Michael with McConville, Ingall and S. Richards which saw Michael hold onto his position and he started to draw away from his competitors.

Fabian finished the race in 6th, progressing a total of 15 places and Michael 15th, a climb of 11 places. With two cars that are undamaged and showing great race pace the Wilson Security Racing team were well placed for qualifying and race 2 on the Sunday.

Qualifying on Sunday morning proved again that things dont always go your way. With less than five minutes remaining in the session the two WSR cars pitted for tyres and returned to the circuit only to have the session red flagged due to a car being parked in the wall at turn 7. Again they were forced to settle for a result beneath their capabilities with Fabian in 9th and Michael in 25th.

Another great start from both drivers, with Fabian avoiding the stricken #5 car of Winterbottom which eventually caused a safety car on the first lap. Fabian, quickly into 7th, pitted just prior to half race distance and returned to the field in 15th. Another safety car period on lap 42 saw Fabian pass
Lowndes on the restart and move up into 6th place. An error from Steven Richards in the final 10 laps of the race saw Fabian move up into 5th place, a position he held till race end.

This is equal to Fabians best ever race result which coincidently was also at Hamilton in 2008. His 6th placing in the first race and 5th in the second race move Fabian up into 5th in the Championship and full of confidence leading into Winto at the start of May.

Michael also avoided the madness of the first lap and was quickly up into 23rd. Losing some positions on the track as a result of an error during the pit stop, Michael was keen to make a mends and went out with all guns blazing quickly progressing through the field into 17th when there was a safety car intervention on lap 40. Moving up another 4 places in the final stages of the race Michael finished in a very pleasing 13th place, 2 positions higher than race 1. Although Michael’s best previous result was a 12th in Tasmania in the wet, this is by far his best overall weekend result and places him 19th in the championship, showing that even in these early stages of his career he can mix it with the best of them in the championship series.

Fantastic results for both Fabian and Michael this weekend at Hamilton, NZ, have catapulted the Wilson Security Racing Team in 6th place in the Teams Championship, ahead of more established teams including Stone Brothers Racing, Walkinshaw Racing, Sprint Gas Racing and Brad Jones Racing to name just a few.

Driver #111 Car – Fabian Coulthard:

“Qualifying was not how we‟d like but things don‟t always go your way. The new qualifying format is good for us this weekend giving us a second chance to qualify well for Sunday‟s race.”

“Overall it was a good weekend. A disappointing qualifying on Saturday was turned around into a great race result showing that a „never give up‟ attitude gets you good results. It‟s very pleasing to again be the top kiwi for the weekend and to leave Hamilton placed 5th in the championship. This is a great confidence builder for both me and the team.”

Driver #333 Car – Michael Patrizi:

“Our qualifying left room to improve. We seem to have lost some stability in the overall braking performance of the car and changes made overnight didn‟t really improve the car as we hoped.”

“This has been a great all round performance for the entire team. I‟m a little upset with myself for an error in our stop which cost the team valuable time but I am very happy with my results which clearly show that as a team we can take my career to the next step. This weekend has been a good confidence boost and will take me to Winton mentally stronger and more prepared.”

Team Principal – Paul Cruickshank:

“Fabian being the best Kiwi again this year is great for the team and him personally. All the guys did a really good job and Fabians‟ ability to keep racing well on street circuits is really pleasing.”

“Michael has made some great progress again since the Grand Prix and has this weekend shown that he can race tough and clean with the top level guys and should be really happy with his weekend results.”

“We still have a long way to go in the season but we have some real positives to work towards.”

Event Details:

Event 02 – Comprising Races 3 and 4
Hamilton 400
Hamilton Street Circuit.
Hamilton, New Zealand

Championship Standings:

1. Jamie Whincup 600 2. Lee Holdsworth 498

2. Will Davison 483 4. Steven Johnson 462

5. Fabian Coulthard 354 6. Jason Richards 324
7. Rick Kelly 315 8. Garth Tander 285
9. Shane Van Gisbergen 282 10. James Courtney 272
22. Michael Patrizi 177

Next Round:

Event 03 – comprising races 5, 6 and 7
1st – 3rd May
Winton Motor Raceway

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