MOTORSPORT: Coulthard leads Ford fightback

In the same way Sebastian Vettel's victory for Ferrari has provided F1 with a much-needed boost, so the Ford sweep of the Albert Park support races has proved timely for Supercars.

Three different Falcon FG X drivers from two different teams won the four non-championship sprint races, vanquishing the often-dominant Triple Eight operation in the process.

Fabian Coulthard scored two wins for DJR Team Penske and the overall points victory, despite finishing 20th in the final race after a puncture in his Shell V-Power Falcon. It was a deserving result considering the New Zealander also claimed three pole positions.

Meanwhile team-mate Scott McLaughlin won the opening race, in the process scoring US motor racing icon Roger Penske's first Supercars victory since his take-over of Dick Johnson Racing in 2014. He ended the weekend second overall on points.

Their three wins and 1-2 points result added to the emerging narrative of the 2017 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship; that it will become a battle between the two heavyweights, DJRTP and Triple Eight's Red Bull Holden acing Team.

But the real feel-good story of the weekend was Chaz Mostert's breakthrough for his first win since the Prodrive Racing Australia young gun's horrific 2015 Bathurst qualifying session accident that put him in hospital and ended his season.

Mostert's win was fortuitous in the Supercheap Falcon as he took advantage of Coulthard's cut left-front tyre. However, reunited with his long-term engineer Adam de Borre after a year apart in 2016, he had been ultra-consistent all weekend and by far the best of the four PRA Fords, including 2015 series champion Mark Winterbottom.

It was an apt reminder of the talent of the 24-year old, who had been fighting Winterbottom for the championship before his accident and along with McLaughlin is regarded as the best young driver in the championship.

"I only got the podium through some misfortune from some of the other guys, but I'm pretty ecstatic to get the win considering I haven't had one since 2015," Mostert said.

"Last year I went without a win so it is good to get the monkey off the back and we have just got to keep trying to produce this form and get more wins."

RBHRT had posed the most consistent challenge to the Ford phalanx, with Jamie Whincup looking more threatening than defending series champion and Clipsal 500 dominator, Shane van Gisbergen.

But this weekend was the first time the Supercars had raced on Dunlop's new construction 'super-soft' tyre and van Gisbergen was clearly less comfortable than he had been on the soft in Adelaide.

Whincup would have swooped on the AGP overall points win in his Commodore after Coulthard's tyre failure, but he was dumped out of second in the final race because of his own puncture. That was caused by a broken spring that left him unable to adjust brake bias, so the left-rear was "over-cooked" during the race.

"It was all self-inflicted," said Whincup. "We should have done a better job dealing with the issue in the first place. We cost ourselves the win this weekend."

But Coulthard didn't see it that way: "It was meant to be. It was a pretty bizarre way to win the weekend, but the boys have worked very hard all weekend and I feel like we deserved to win.

"We've got a little bit to go, and a little bit to achieve. It was pretty weird to have a puncture and then see Jamie have the same issue. To take not only the round win but a 1-2 as well is pretty awesome."

Through all these shenanigans there was a lot of tyre testing going on over the course of the four races. Who really gained the most will only be revealed when the cars tackle Symmons Plains in the next VASC round on April 7-9.

That track has been a bogy for DJRTP Falcons and a competitive outing on the Tassie bull-ring would confirm the tuning progress the team appears to be making under new competition director Ludo Lacroix.

Rather than tuning, some teams will simply be working to repair cars in time for Tassie. Nick Percat's terrifying 255km/h brake failure on Friday in the Brad Jones Racing 'Rainbow' Holden Commodore VF accounted for his weekend and innocent victim Lee Holdsworth in the Preston Hire Commodore as well.

Event points

1. Fabian Coulthard Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 241
2. Scott McLaughlin Shell V-Power Racing Team Ford Falcon FG X 235
3. Chaz Mostert Supercheap Auto Racing Ford Falcon FG X 223
4. Michael Caruso Nissan Motorsport Nissan Altima 222
5. Jamie Whincup Red Bull Holden Racing Team Holden Commodore VF 201