Courtney: “It’s not sunk in yet”

James Courtney is elated to have won his first championship, in a challenging year for the 30-year old at Jim Beam Racing.

Courtney took the title by just 65 points over reigning champion Jamie Whincup at the final race meeting at the Sydney Olympic Park.

After a strong start to the year by TeamVodafone, with Whincup winning all four of the opening fly away races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, despite their switch to a new car from Ford to Holden this year, Courtney put on a strong charge from Queensland, winning four races in a row and jumping into the lead of the championship.

Courtney would only win one more race after Winton, at the penultimate meeting at Sandown, but consistency was the key to staying ahead where rivals Whincup, Lowndes and Winterbottom suffered in incidents and failures.

Courtney and Jim Beam Racing’s achievement is even more considerable with the ownership wrangle which gripped the team for the last half of the season, with the souring relationship between team owners Dick Johnson & Charlie Schwerkolt.

“There’s no way it’s sunk in yet – it’s more relief at the moment,” said Courtney

“I can’t thank my guys enough for the job that they did yesterday, and today. We had a gun or something break in the pitstop and couldn’t change the right rear, then we had to come in and have another stop.”

“I didn’t think the year was ever going to end, it just kept going and going with dramas and twists and turns. I’m just unbelievably relieved that it’s over actually.

“It’s great to be the guy who, when it all washes up, got the most points during the year.”

“We’ve got a tight bunch of guys, we all kept our heads down and in the end we did it. It’s great that a family team can still topple the giants.”