Home James to the GC600
QUEENSLAND Raceway has been kind to James Courtney over the years but the Walkinshaw Racing star would happily fast-forward to October’s Gold Coast 600 if possible.
The Ipswich circuit known as the “Paperclip” delivered Courtney his maiden Supercars podium in his 2006 rookie season. Two years later, it was the site of his breakthrough first victory in the series.
His 2010 cleansweep there was a vital stepping stone for him to win the championship.
All up, Courtney has stood on the Queensland Raceway podium 10 times including four celebrations on the top step.
But with his Commodore struggling desperately for pace, largely due to corner handling issues, the 37-yearold is a “write your own ticket” chance of finding his way back onto the podium this weekend.
The Walkinshaw car is traditionally stronger on street circuits, with Townsville this month providing a flicker of hope with his first top 10 finish since the Round 1 Clipsal 500.
But its weaknesses have been brutally exposed on open race tracks. Courtney has qualified better than 20th only twice across the five non-street circuit events so far this year.
It leaves the No.22 driver less than optimistic about his chances this weekend and yearning to head to wall-lined circuits such as the Gold Coast 600 as soon as possible.
“I’d happily come straight here (to his home event on the Gold Coast) and race here and then go straight to Newcastle and Bathurst but unfortunately we have got a couple of others in between,” he said.
“But QR hasn’t been bad to me in the past, we’ve been pole there a couple of times and had a couple of wins.
“We’ve changed a few things in the car to try to get more speed out of it for the next one so hopefully we can keep creeping to the front.
“But the longer races suit us, you can sort of drive towards the front a bit so we’re pretty excited about that (endurance) phase of the season coming.
“I have got a good solid teammate (co-driver) in Jack, Mr Perkins, so we’re really counting down the days, trying to sneak a bit more speed out of it between now and then.”
Courtney has never finished a season lower than 11th overall in 11 years as a Supercars full-timer but is facing an uphill battle to keep it going.
He is 20th in the standings, 204 points behind 11th placed Garry Rogers Motorsport driver James Moffat.