Jim Beam Racing News
Courtney’s second podium takes weight off his shoulders!
01 August 2009
Jim Beam Racing’s James Courtney took another podium today at the Norton 360 Sandown Challenge in his 50th start in the V8 Supercar Championship.
Courtney had a strong qualifying in the first and second sessions posting fast times in both sessions, before ending up in P4 in the Top Ten Shoot Out.
“The car had plenty of speed today. We had a good qualifying and an ‘okay’ shoot out”, said Courtney who got off to a fast start to move into 3rd place heading into Turn 1.
Starting Race 13 on soft compound tyres, Courtney took the race up to both Davison and Whincup who started in P1 and P2 respectively, and settled into a fast battle pack for the first part of the race. With the unpredictable weather looking like it would play a big part in the race, Courtney stayed out until lap 12 to leave the pack pit only for fuel. The gamble to stay on soft tyres over the 33 lap race could have played into the hands of the rest of the field and the fast approaching threat of wet weather. But the tyre strategy proved to be right with Courtney moving into 2nd place after the rest of the field took the compulsory stop for fuel by the end of lap 30. With Lowndes closing the gap on Car 18 in the last stage of the race, Courtney kept in control and crossed the finish line behind Will Davison, who took his first Race win for the year.
“We were lucky the race finished when it did as the tyres were pretty average by the end. This is another great result for the Team who have been working really hard on getting both cars in the best possible shape. While I would prefer to be in Championship contention, it is now all about outright wins”.
Courtney’s 2nd place today moves him into 13th place in the Driver’s Championship.
Steven Johnson on the other hand, had some tough luck with top end speed in the race, after a strong Top Ten Shoot Out earlier in the day that put Car 17 in P3 for Race 13.
“The car was strong through the corners but lacked top end speed down the straight to keep me up there with the leaders but despite that, another Top Ten finish certainly helped my position in the Drivers Championship” said Johnson after the race.
“The Team will be making some changes tonight to prepare for the longer race tomorrow and I am really looking forward to getting back out there and racing hard.”
Johnson finished 8th in Race 13 today and maintains 5th Place in the Drivers Championship.
With another “double” Top Ten finish, Jim Beam Racing moves into 3rd Place in the Teams Championship just three points ahead of Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Qualifying tomorrow starts at 1015am with Race 14 due to blast off at 1.05pm.
Race 13 Results:-
1st Will Davison – Toll Holden Racing Team
2nd James Courtney – Jim Beam Racing
3rd Craig Lowndes – Team Vodafone
8th Steven Johnson – Jim Beam Racing
Driver Championship Points:-
1st Jamie Whincup 1662
2nd Will Davison 1536
3rd Garth Tander 1266
4th Craig Lowndes 1239
5th Steven Johnson 1140
Team Championship Points:-
1st Team Vodafone 2901
2nd Toll Holden Racing Team 2802
3rd Jim Beam Racing 1986
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