It was perhaps appropriate for a driver with the surname of Coulthard to win New Zealand motor racing's most sought-after prize at Teretonga Raceway in Invercargill yesterday.
Aucklander Fabian Coulthard, a second cousin to British McLaren Formula One star David Coulthard, convincingly won the first New Zealand Grand Prix contested in
Invercargill.
"Yeah, it's good to keep the family connection going," Coulthard, 19, said after winning the 36-lap classic from start to finish.
"This just means so much. Just to be among all those prestigious names [previous winners] is very good. It's great."
Coulthard was in a class of his own through the weekend in the 39-car Formula Ford single-seater showdown.
He dominated Saturday's proceedings, being fastest in qualifying, winning the shootout to determine the top grid positions and pulling away comfortably to win the 10-lap race.
Yesterday, he did not let up before a 5000-strong crowd.
He headed off fast-improving young American Bryan Sellers by about four seconds to take his first grand prix title.
Coulthard also retained his unbeaten run after seven races and three meetings in the seven-round Formula Ford championship, which moves up the road to Timaru this weekend.
Probably the only thing which surprised Coulthard was the ease of his victory in yesterday's race, which included a forced fuel stop after 18 laps.
"The biggest scare was not actually having seen the track before," said Coulthard, who is in his second season of Formula Ford racing.
"We ended up in the sand a couple of times at testing.
"But the race really just fell our way. We got a gap and then just maintained that gap."
It is a gap Sellers plans to haul in at Timaru.
Sellers, 19, is part of Team USA with Californian racer A. J. Allmendinger, 20, who finished third yesterday.
The pair arrived in New Zealand on Boxing Day on Team USA scholarships and are still getting used to their Van Diemen RF93 Stealth cars.
Sellers started fourth on the grid. He is confident he can get more out of his car and end Coulthard's dominance this weekend.
"It's going to be tough, but we're going after it, for sure.
"I think we can take the next step.
"Fabian's been getting his car ready for 18 months. We've really had only a week."
The Americans were followed home by New Zealand veteran Ken Smith in fourth place.
- NZPA
