Courtney 'couldn't be happier' with breakthrough podium

James Courtney has expressed his relief in rewarding Tickford Racing with a podium at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Courtney finished 17 seconds behind race winner Anton De Pasquale in a wet-dry Race 24 at the ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight.

It marked a key turnaround for the Tickford squad, with the team previously struggling to finish inside the top 10 across the two weekends in Sydney.

The 2010 champion qualified sixth for Sunday’s penultimate race, benefitting from a smart strategy call to help himself to a 61st career podium.

It was Courtney's second podium for Tickford Racing and first since Darwin 2020.

Tickford brought the #44 Boost Mobile Mustang in for Hard tyres on lap 19, giving him enough rubber to keep a fast Will Davison at bay until the flag.

"It’s awesome, I just want to start drinking beer now, I don’t know if I want to race this afternoon,” Courtney joked.

"It’s great to get the result for Boost Mobile, Peter Adderton and Jase are here from Boost, and it’s contract time, so hopefully that helps with sponsorship dollars.

“But it’s excellent, we are in Western Sydney, I was born 20 minutes down the road. My sister is out here, I haven’t seen them in a long time.

“It’s excellent and I couldn’t be happier.

“The boys have been working really, really hard on the car, it’s been a tough one here for us at Tickford, so it’s great to get a result."

The result equals the 41-year-old best finish of third at the circuit, which he previously achieved in 2016 Saturday race.

To date, Courtney has won 15 races from 487 starts, but has yet to record a win at SMSP.

Courtney will start from 14th for the floodlit Race 25.

It comes after Tickford teammate Jack Le Brocq equalled his season-best result of sixth in Saturday’s floodlit Race 23.

Cameron Waters finished 13th in Race 24 at Sydney Motorsport Park, moving up four spots.

“I’d like to be sitting in the crowd drinking beer now," Courtney added.

"We are starting in the mid-pack, so it's going to be a bit harder, but obviously the car is going really well.

“Brad [Wischusen, race engineer] did a good job tuning it up.

“Hopefully we can push past a few and get back towards the front.”

The final race of the ARMOR ALL Sydney SuperNight will commence at 7:30pm AEDT.

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