Kiwi king Fabian Coulthard heads to his home event as the fastest man in V8 Supercars, and armed with the knowledge that the Pukekohe track in New Zealand is similar to the one he dominated in this weekend's Tasmania Microsoft Office 365.

Lockwood Racing's Coulthard won two of the three races including the final today when he lunged and passed Pepsi Max Crew FPRs Mark Winterbottom in the closing laps. Holden Racing Team's James Courtney grabbed his first podium of the year in third.

Coulthard's team-mate Jason Bright won the middle race earlier in the day in his Team BOC Commodore from HRTs Garth Tander with Coulthard in third.

Although starting from second on the grid in all three races Coulthard converted it into race wins. He is full of form and fight heading to the ITM 400 in Auckland in just five days' time.

"New Zealand was always going to be a busy race for me regardless. It's awesome to get two race wins and to go back home full of confidence. I am pretty ecstatic, I might not show it but I am not an emotional type of person.

"I don't think you can put words on it, especially with the Jason Richards Trophy which is very special to all of us at BJR. Who knows?"

Coulthard said he had made the most of a rare opportunity to challenge Winterbottom at the death.

"It's one of those races. We struggled a little in the middle part and the safety car then helped us out a little bit. There were times I could have had a go at Frosty early in the race. I had my opportunity and took it. We are here to race hard but I thought it was pretty fair."

Bright won the opening race comfortably, his first since 2011.

"It has been too long (between wins) again," he said. "There have been some big breaks between my wins but hopefully it won't be as long between them this year."

"To see the cars so competitive at the first three races is testament to everyone. I can't even begin to thanks them for the job they have done."

Courtney's third matched that of Tander in the day's first race.

"We have just been trying to keep our nose clean and get the most out of what we have got," Courtney said.

"Clearly we don't have the cars to match these guys at the moment but on odd occasion when the stars align we can do it. The window that our cars operate in is far too small."

The first race started with a spectacular crash when David Reynolds' Bottle-O Falcon got squeezed against a guard rail at the infamous Symmons Plains hairpin, ending up almost vertical in 1.5 tonne of V8 Supercar.

Reynolds had run three wide at the 90 degree turn and was pushed onto the fence by Wilson Security Racing's David Wall after he appeared to get clipped from the inside. He was lucky not to have flipped completely and been left with the majority of the field to get around him.

"It was all pretty hectic down at the hairpin and for the first time in my career I got hit by two walls (the wall and David Wall) at the same time. How cool was that," a typically quirky Reynolds said.

"It's unlucky they don't give away style points in this game, imagine that."

Almost miraculously Reynolds' team got his Bottle-O Falcon repaired for the final race.

Scott Pye walked away from an even bigger crash in the second race when he careered straight into a barrier head on late in the race, which caused the safety car that helped Coulthard. He suffered only a sprained wrist.

"It was one of those crashes that you see form a long way away and there was nothing I could do," he said. "Instinctively though I kept trying to turn the car and brake it, even though the pedal was going to the floor."

This weekend coming the field races for the Jason Richards Trophy in honour of the late V8 Supercar driver who lost a courageous fight with cancer and remains one of the most respected in the sport.

The trophy, to be held in perpetuity, will be awarded to the driver with the best combined results over the four V8 Supercars Championship races at the ITM 400 Auckland.

Tickets are on sale for the ITM 400 V8 Supercars at Pukekohe Park Raceway on 12-14 April. Tickets for the event are on sale from Ticketek or as little as NZ$30, with three-day general admission for NZ$110 and three-day grandstands from NZ$145. Kids 12 years and under are free for general admission with a ticket bearing adult.