AUS: Sandown qualifying notes

It was an impressive day for rising Kiwi steerer Fabian Coulthard, showcasing his potential in his 911 GT3 Cup car in the Carrera Cup and also his Holden Commodore VY in the V8 Supercars.

Coulthard (Greg Murphy Racing / Team Braun) claimed his first pole position in the Australian Carrera Cup clocking a Porsche lap record of 1:13.0387.

The 22-year-old is full of confidence after recording his first Carrera Cup race win at his previous Porsche start at Winton in July.

Then after firing in the left-hand drive Porsche of Team Braun today, Coulthard stepped into Tasman Motorsport's Commodore to be 17th fastest out of the 35 co-drivers in practice for the Betta Electrical Sandown 500.

But in the Carrera Cup, Coulthard edged out Jim Richards (Jim Richards Racing / OAMPS Insurance Brokers) by five hundredths of a second to set the fastest time in a Porsche today.

Series leader Alex Davison (Greg Murphy Racing / Glenfords Tool Centre) was third quickest, and will be joined on the second row of the grid for race one tomorrow by series newcomer Craig Baird (Team VIP Petfoods).

The top four drivers in qualifying all had busy schedules today, driving in both the Carrera Cup and V8 Supercars.

Charlie O'Brien (Wright Patton Shakespeare) was fifth fastest in his best qualifying performance of the year, while Jonathon Webb (Tekno Autosports), Peter Hill (Greg Murphy Racing / Team Braun), Kevin Bell (International Motorsport NZ / G-Tech NZ), Tony Quinn (Team VIP Petfoods) and Peter Fitzgerald (Fitzgerald Racing / Abcor, Acer) rounded out the top 10.

Round six of the 2004 Australian Carrera Cup at Sandown continues with race one over 14 laps tomorrow Saturday September 11, and then race two and three also over 14 laps on Sunday.

The Carrera Cup is the most successful 'one make' championship in the world with close-to-identical Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars built by Porsche' racing arm in Weissach, Germany set for racing in 2004. All cars have a top speed in excess of 300 kilometres per hour with a 400-horsepower, 6 cylinder Boxer engine which revs to 8000 RPM.

'Trackside' on Network Ten will telecast round five of the Carrera Cup on Sunday September 19 at 2pm (check local guides).

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