Courtney's advice for Love after brutal Bathurst debut
Supercars
29 Feb
James Courtney impressed by Aaron Love despite tough debut
Love crashed three times across the two Bathurst races
Courtney suffered a similar fate on debut in Adelaide 2006
James Courtney was impressed by the maturity of young teammate Aaron Love despite the rookie enduring a tough debut weekend — something Courtney knows all too well.
Love, 21, found the Mount Panorama concrete three times across the two races at last weekend's Thrifty Bathurst 500.
The Perth-born driver wasn’t the only driver to be stung, with fellow rookie Ryan Wood failing to see either chequered flag after incidents in both races.
Courtney knows the pain better than most — he crashed out of his first two full-time Supercars races in Adelaide in 2006, both times at the notorious Turn 8.
"He probably comes away from the weekend with his head down,” Courtney told the Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.
“I said, ‘Mate, you're going to have plenty more shit weekends.’
"Unfortunately, the industry we're in, only one guy can win every weekend. Unlike football where you go to the game, you've got a 50 percent chance of winning, the odds are against us every time.
"So, there's more times it's bad than good. We've just got to make sure we can get the team to the point where we're on the other end and having more better weekends than bad.
"Aaron's a great young guy and I think he’s going to be good to work with."
Despite the tough results, Courtney liked what he saw in Love, who was active in Blanchard Racing Team debriefs, and demonstrated a clear willingness to learn.
"Aaron's a great young talent,” the 2010 champion said.
“Part of Aaron's learning process is when to push, when not to push. Sometimes you haven't got the car.
“He's eager to learn. He's got no attitude or no chip on his shoulder at all, which is nice. He's got a lot to say in the debriefs, which is good, he's not just timid and sitting away.
“He speaks about what he believes he needs from the car and what he's feeling.”
Courtney and Love are 17th and 23rd in the points heading to the Melbourne SuperSprint on March 21-24.
