Coulthard on the pace

A two-day 'SuperTest' test session at Sydney Motorsport Park last weekend (February 7-8) saw Freightliner Racing's Fabian Coulthard achieve some blistering lap times in the #14 Brad Jones Racing V8 Commodore.

Coulthard came out charging on the Saturday, achieving a fourth-fastest time of 1:30.7284sec before dropping back to finish 12th and 11th in the day's remaining two sessions.

The first outing on the Sunday saw Coulthard finish with a third-fastest time of 1:29.9437sec – his fastest for the weekend – before going on to finish ninth in the SuperTest Shootout with a best time of 1:31.2764sec.

The SuperTest was a first public outing for Freightliner Racing, after Freightliner signed on as a naming-rights sponsor for the BJR car late last year. The deal also sees the team utilise a Freightliner Argosy as a race transporter.

Coulthard said the SuperTest had its challenges.

"It was so hot out there today which made the track quite greasy," he said.

"I drove it as straight as I could; it just wasn't enough but it's onto the Clipsal 500 now in Adelaide at the end of this month and that's what counts."

It was more of a mixed bag at Sydney Motorsport Park for Team Penske's Marcus Ambrose, who has returned to the V8 Supercar Championship after eight years of racing in the US.

US auto magnate Roger Penske announced his intention to enter the V8 Supercar Championship last September; through Penske Commercial Vehicles the entrepreneur and former racer has held the importation and distribution rights for Western Star, MAN and Dennis Eagle trucks in Australia and New Zealand since 2013.

While Penske had previously unveiled an artist's impression of an MAN-themed livery at a Penske Automotive Group dealer conference last year, at the test session Ambrose's Ford FG X Falcon retained the Xbox-themed livery debuted at the Homebush finale last year, with 'Western Star Trucks' signage across the top of the car's windscreen. The team announced last week that Microsoft Xbox would continue as an associate sponsor throughout the year.

The DJR Team Penske livery (see the accompanying artist's impression) was recently voted as the public's favourite on a poll on the V8 Supercars Australia website.

Ambrose finished 23rd, 10th, 15th and 5th across the four test sessions, before finishing 14th in the SuperTest Shootout.

Ambrose said he and the team gained a lot from the outing.

"It has been a great weekend for DJR Team Penske," he said.

"From the time I got here till now at the end of the test I feel a lot more confident and much clearer with the feel of the car. I think we got more out of this test than a lot of the other teams achieved.

"The morning session was a big step forward for all of us and for me personally to just get back up in the mix. It is funny really; at Homebush I would have been happy to climb into the midfield and now we are there this weekend you just want to take the next step up."

The 2015 V8 Supercars Championship kicks off at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, to be held over February 26 to March 1.