Hawkesbury Supercars driver James Courtney has continued his roller coaster season at the Supernight 300 at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The Supercars’ August 4 event at Eastern Creek was the first night meeting in Australia for 21 years, and saw an impressive display of cars all presented for the evening.
Several test laps were carried out well before the event to get the lighting correct, with the extensive mobile lighting proving to be effective.
Saturday’s practice session had Courtney achieving 7th fastest, setting himself up for a good qualifying run later in the day.
However in the full qualifying session, Courtney unfortunately could not match his practice performance and started the race in position 11.
This was not the result he was hoping for and was in line with the rest of his season, which has seen some encouraging results with his car showing signs of getting back to top performance.
Supercars turned on a great visual display with lighting and pyrotechnics, and driver introductions with the back drop of the cars on the grid before the start of the 300.
The race started in the dark with the lights to full effect.
The lead cars raced door to door to turn two when Scott McLaughlin forced his way to the lead.
Courtney raced to sixth from position 11 after two laps and maintained that spot until he pitted on lap 16, when he dropped to position 11.
By lap 50 he had worked back up to eighth with a critical pit stop to come.
However, on lap 52 his bad luck continued as the front left side upright steering arm collapsed and he was forced back to the pits to finish the night.
The race was eventually won by Holden driver, Shane van Gisbergen.
About 34,000 people attended.
