JAMES Courtney will remain on the Repco Supercars Championship grid in 2022 and beyond with Tickford Racing.
Courtney and the team took another seat out of play in Supercars’ silly season in confirming a new multi-year deal with the 2010 series champion.
Courtney arrived at Tickford last June after starting the 2020 season with Team Sydney, the demise of 23Red Racing allowing him to slot into the team’s fourth entry with backing from Boost Mobile.
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He scored a podium finish in his third event with the team on his way to 13th in the final points standings.
This year Courtney has yet to climb the podium – his best race finish so far is a fourth at The Bend – but a consistent year headlined by 12 top-10 finishes has him sitting ninth in the standings ahead of the season’s resumption.
“It’s awesome to get this deal done with Tim (Edwards) and the team, and I’m very excited to be sticking around with the boys and girls at Tickford,” Courtney said.
“We’ve got a really good team dynamic going and we’ve had some strong results on track since I joined the team a year and half ago.
“No doubt we want to do even better when we go back racing later this month, but I’m really enjoying working with the team and driver group at Tickford, and it’s a really nice feeling heading into the rest of the year knowing my future’s taken care of.
“It’s great to sort everything out and get that out of the way, which allows us to really go after the back half of this season, and hopefully take home a bunch of silverware to build our momentum for 2022.”
Although he is less than two years into his tenure at the Melbourne-based squad, Courtney is the most experienced Supercars driver on the team’s roster.
The 41-year-old has 215 championship round starts to his name ahead of this month’s Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight, ranking him fourth among active drivers.
Team principal Tim Edwards believe that wealth of experience will come in handy amid Supercars’ looming transition to Gen3 technical rules.
“He’s been a great source of insight for our engineers and an excellent sounding board for his team mates since he joined our program,” Edwards said.
“He’s fit in with the whole team really well and has driven some great races for us, so we’re more than happy to keep him around.
“In addition to all that, we expect his feedback will be particularly valuable as we transition to and develop the Gen3 Ford Mustang, which certainly excites both of us quite a bit.
“We’re looking forward to seeing JC’s continued contributions to the team across the rest of this season, and are very excited to see what we can accomplish together in the future.”
Courtney is only the second driver that Tickford has officially confirmed for its four cars for the 2022 season.
The team signed Thomas Randle on a multi-year deal at the end of 2020 and, after completing a wildcard appearance and serving as a co-driver, will graduate to a full-time drive next year underpinned by a fourth Racing Entitlements Contract secured by the team in June.
Cam Waters and Jack Le Brocq are off-contract at the end of the season but, while Tickford is expected to confirm Waters on a new deal soon, it is has been reported this week that Le Brocq is likely to be replaced by Matt Stone Racing’s Jake Kostecki for 2022.
