Jack steps up

Holden Racing Team co-driver and former full-timer Jack Perkins will take the wheel of the #22 Holden Commodore this weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park.

Perkins replaces regular driver James Courtney, who was injured yesterday and is suffering from two fractured ribs, and a pneumothorax.

While this isn't the way Perkins would have liked to make his race debut with the decorated HRT, he will be doing his best behind the wheel and focus on keeping it clean for the team.

Perkins spent yesterday'sadditional driver only practice session in the car, as well as the hour-long final session whileCourtney was being seen by medical staff. He finished 20th in the final session and 17th in the co-driver session.

He has had time behind the wheel of the Commodore during practice sessions in previous rounds - including a half-hour additional driver only session at Queensland Raceway.

This is his first year co-driving with the team, replacing Greg Murphy. Last year, Perkins drove full-time with Charlie Schwerkolt at Ford Performance Racing [Prodrive] and earned mid-pack results at Sydney Motorsport Park last year.

Perkins is the son of Bathurst great Larry Perkins, and performed well at Mount Panorama in 2014, until a late race incident.

"You never want to get a drive under these circumstances, and I was still hopeful James could be back in the car tomorrow, but that's looking more and more unlikely, which is a shame," Perkins told v8supercars.com.au last night.

"Hopefully, that being the case, he's going to be good enough for Sandown - because that's not actually that far away.

"That's probably on the forefront of my mind - James' state of play and his Championship. But obviously to drive the car now for a weekend gives us excellent preparation for the enduros."

Perkins has turned plenty of miles around Sydney Motorsport Park and is comfortable in the car. He predicts qualifying will be the biggest challenge this weekend.

"I don't have a great expectation of any results given I haven't done any competitive running in the car on good tyres," he said.

"But you always go out there in a race to do your best and hopefully that can be right up the front.

"I think the guys have turned a corner with their car speed over the last couple of races.

"Qualifying is going to be the hardest thing. I haven't done a qualifying session all year, I haven't had a new tyre on this car all year, I haven't had a soft tyre on the car all year until this afternoon - so the odds are against us, but we're going to go out there and do the absolute best job we can.

"I was only a couple of tenths off GT [Garth Tander, HRT's other full-timer] this afternoon, which is encouraging.

"I'm just looking forward to the opportunity. I'm going to make the most of it and keep the car in one piece as well - it's pretty important not to damage the car in the process."

HRT boss Adrian Burgess said the team would have full focus on Perkins - and the stable's other three cars - this weekend, despite yesterday'sdrama.

"Clearly it's not a situation we wanted to find ourselves in, but we're a professional team, we do everything we can to make sure James gets all the attention and the expertise he needs to recuperate and get himself back in shape for the next event," Burgess told v8supercars.com.au.

"Equally, while that's going on, we've got to make sure we're doing the right job here with the rest of the team and the other three main drivers ... for Jack, I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted to have his debut with HRT in this circumstance, but he's a professional and so are the guys on that car.

"So we'll knuckle down and do the best job - and we're not going to put any great expectations on him this weekend.

"Giving him some good time in the car and three race starts will be invaluable for him."