HAWKESBURY Supercar driver James Courtney had a rough weekend during round 8 of the Supercar Championship at the Sydney Motorsport Park.
Courtney qualified 15th for the first race, after a couple of tough practice sessions.
Courtney tried the alternate tyre strategy during the first race and was the first car to pit. Coming in on lap nine and running in 14th he was fitted with four new tyres. On re-joining the race, he made up several positions due to the increased grip and when the safety car was employed on lap 18, he was in eighth.
After the restart James got caught up in a turn two incident involving Shane Van Gisbergen and Scott McLaughlin and was pushed down the field finishing 17th. Good luck has not been Courtney’s friend this season.
Qualifying on Sunday for the longer race saw another disappointing result, with the lack of car speed relegating Courtney to starting from position 18.
On the first lap, Courtney was forced wide on turn two and ended up back in 22nd. Courtney pitted on lap nine for tyres and fuel. Luckily, a safety car was deployed when Rick Kelly had a tyre failure and Courtney moved into position 10.
On lap 34, Courtney was into fourth then had his second pit stop for fuel and tyres and came out in position 22 with 18 laps to go. Courtney worked is way back to finish 16th in the final race of the weekend.
Courtney is in 20th place in the Championship.
