Courtney relieved after turbulent build-up

James Courtney was relieved to bring home an Adelaide podium after a trying lead-in to the event.

Courtney raced to third in Saturday’s dramatic VALO Adelaide 500 opener.

The Tickford Racing driver claimed his third podium of the year, and first since July.

Away from the track, Courtney’s 2022 has also featured a wedding and the birth of his third child.

Last week, Courtney’s six-week-old newborn son Kobe — who was born after Bathurst — was rushed into emergency surgery.

On the track, Courtney has been involved in a number of major accidents.

Most recently, Courtney’s Bathurst ended after five laps, before he was implicated in the Gold Coast pile-up.

Come Saturday, and the two-time Adelaide 500 event winner cast the anguish aside to score a shock podium.

The 42-year-old finished behind a Walkinshaw Andretti United one-two, and was first Ford home.

“It means a lot, we’ve had a chaotic couple of weeks for the family,” Courtney said.

“There was a lot of drama coming into this.

“It’s been an unusual lead-in — you’ve seen what’s happened to us in the last couple of months.

“This thing’s been torn up so much. I can’t thank the guys enough, the amount of work they’ve put in.

“It was great racing these guys [Chaz Mostert and Nick Percat], one-two is fantastic.”

Courtney avoided the drama in the 78-lapper, which was punctuated by three Safety Cars.

One such Safety Car was for a crash for Shane van Gisbergen — an incident which proved to Courtney just how tough the race was.

“The track was so sketchy,” Courtney said.

“You know it’s bad when the championship leader crashes.

“Trying times… everyone’s got panel damage, everyone’s got a war story.

“It was wild… it’s how hard to push, and what to save.

“We did the calculation right, and came home third.”

Courtney’s personal plight prior to Adelaide was a point of concern for his family, friends and colleagues.

It was a plight reiterated by Tickford teammate Cam Waters, who despite his own drama, praised his veteran teammate.

"Massive congratulations to JC," Waters said.

"It's well earned with the week those guys have had, he and Tegan and all his family."

"I'm really happy for him."

Cars will return on Sunday for ARMOR ALL Qualifying at 11:00am local time.

The 12:05pm Shootout will complete the grid for the 2:45pm Race 34.