"But the car has come out of the box strong and hopefully it will continue for the rest of the year."
Bright made a perfect start from pole position and Coulthard slotted into second spot.
However, Coulthard was jumped by Tander on the first lap and relegated to third, one ahead of series leader Jamie Whincup, who finished the race fourth.
There was early drama in the first race when David Reynolds' Falcon was slammed into a rail guarding the wall on lap two.
At the exit of the hairpin, Reynolds, David Wall and the Nissan of Michael Caruso were three wide and Reynolds was left with no room.
The impact ripped the front suspension from his Ford but Reynolds was unhurt.
"I ended up hitting two walls for the first time ever," Reynolds quipped.
Red Bull Racing's Craig Lowndes, who is chasing the all-time touring car race win record, continued to have a miserable weekend.
Lowndes qualified off the pace and took his Holden home in 10th place.
New Zealand's top rally duo Hayden Paddon and John Kennard took a handsome victory at the Rally Otago with a winning margin of more than four minutes over nearest competitors Richard and Sara Mason.
The world rally championship-winning teammates contested Otago's opening round of the New Zealand championship in the rebuilt Stadium Cars Evo9.
While Paddon said there was still development work they plan to do with the now R4-spec car, he was happy with the result.
"To win again is great; it's really good to be back in competition again and be driving in one of my favourite events in the New Zealand Rally Championship," said Paddon.
The pair collected maximum championship points after winning 13 of the two-day event's 16 special stages which covered 258.11km.
It was not all plain sailing for Geraldine's Paddon and Kennard, from Blenheim, and they had a few issues to deal with. Still for 2008 and 2009 champion Paddon it was a good feeling to be back atop the ladder.
