Power steering failure limits Courtney's Friday running
Mechanical failure set to cost James Courtney valuable Friday running
Failure continued difficult run for Blanchard Racing Team
Courtney recovered to 15th after repairs
James Courtney lost about 40 minutes of Friday practice running at the NED Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint after suffering a power steering failure on his out-lap.
The 2010 champion brought his Blanchard Racing Team Mustang back into the pit lane after reporting the problem, but sterling work by the Blanchard mechanics turned the car around to be sent out with 20 minutes to spare.
“We’ve got a power steering issue,” Courtney told the Supercars broadcast.
“I think it’s in the steering rack because it’s super heavy and when I’m putting lock on it’s holding pressure and holding the lock on, not unwinding it, so the car is darty.”
“It’s impossible to get any knowledge out of it, and it’s super sketchy. As soon as I left the pits I could feel it, so I came in. We’re trying to get a change done, hopefully we can do some running at the end, but it’s quite a long process to get it changed.”
Whilst Courtney was parked up in the garage, the 44-year-old turned his attention to helping rookie teammate Aaron Love.
“I’m going to try and learn what I can from Aaron, and help him out,” said Courtney.
“I’m watching a lot of the different lines guys are taking at the hairpin, there’s a lot of variation there, so trying to help him, and listening to how their car is, and hopefully we can roll it into this thing and make it quick.”
The power steering drama continues what has been a difficult run for the expanded Blanchard operation in 2024, having a particularly tough weekend last time out in Sydney.
Missing more than half of the hour-long session today is set to leave Courtney at a major disadvantage for the balance of the weekend.
“Yeah it’s not going to be good,” Courtney replied when asked how difficult the weekend would become.
“Tomorrow it makes everything so much harder, especially with it being an hour long session which is usually great because you can test so many things.
“It is what it is. I’ll have to draw on some of that experience I’ve got, those 18 or 19 years or whatever it is and come up with something special tomorrow.”
