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Sweet but painful comeback victory for James Courtney

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James Courtney returned in style after being out since the Sydney Motorsport Park roud following the injuries he sustained in the freak accident during a helicopter show. While the Holden Racing Team driver enjoyed the victory, the pain from the accident is still there.

“I am in a lot of pain, it’s hurting a lot. It’s the bumping, the bouncing and everything, its pretty violent in there so the way you sit there is a bit going on and that makes it pretty difficult,” said Courtney to v8supercars.com.au.

Courtney secured the win with co-driver Jack Perkins, taking a daring fuel strategy that proved to be just right.

“The guys did a cracking job with the strategy, had pretty good car speed just battled on. Jack’s done a great job filling in for me, he’s really stepped up … we need him back next year and we need him to do this every year,” said Courtney.

The win was emotional for Perkins as well, with it being his first ever V8 Supercars victory.

“I’ve tried pretty hard for this, I’m just proud of what James and I could achieve,” said Perkins.

Holden Racing Team had even more to celebrate as Garth Tander and Warren Luff finished third, a position enough to secure the Pirtek Endurance Cup title.

”A great result for the entire team. Three really tough and different races. To have the consistency over all those and to get the win is a really great team result,” said Tander.