Fabian Coulthard qualified second on the grid behind his teammate Scotty McLaughlin, for race 6 of the 2017 Supercars Championship, race two at the Phillip Island 500 and had strong pace all day, leading the early stages of the race.

However, it all went wrong when he ran through a red light at the end of pit lane under safety car, and received a pit lane drive-through penalty.

That dropped him to the rear of the field, and he drove back to 17th position at the finish. He has maintained his Championship lead, seven points ahead of Van Gisbergen.

“We had quick cars, and I'm disappointed in the fact that we couldn't capitalise on that,” he said. “That guts me the most. I made an error. I've been racing Supercars for a long time now, and it's the first time I've ever seen a red light at the end of pit lane during a race. To be honest, I still didn't see it. I have to cop that, and that's life. I'm glad to still be leading the Championship, but it could have been so much better. Our competition had a bad run today, and we have to take advantage on those days, and we didn't.”

Meanwhile, teammate Scotty's pace had been record breaking all weekend, resetting the lap record in both qualifying and races on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday he started from pole, but could not capitalise on the position he had worked so hard to secure.

The team's strategy through the second round of pit stops didn't play out as expected, and loose bodywork that required repair at his final pit stop also pushed him down the order. He finished the day 14th overall.

“I feel really good, the car is performing incredibly well,” he said. “We've just had a few things that are costing us. It will come. The main thing is we're still getting good points, and still up the top in the Championship. It could have been much better after taking two poles this weekend, and then the loose bodywork cost us a few positions as well. At the end of the day I'm happy that the speed is there, and things look good for the rest of the year.”

Now it's on to Perth in two weeks' time.