Courtney to race on in Supercars with Team 18

James Courtney will race on in Supercars, with the 2010 champion signing a co-drive deal with Team 18.

Courtney announced his retirement from full-time racing midway through 2024, but didn't commit to a future in co-driving beyond 2025.

Confirmed Sunday, Courtney will race for Team 18 as a co-driver for 2026 and beyond, reuniting with Charlie Schwerkolt and Adrian Burgess.

Courtney, Schwerkolt and Burgess combined to win the 2010 championship with Dick Johnson Racing. Courtney reunited with the title-winning Falcon, which is based at Team 18's headquarters.

It continues a year of coups for Team 18, which was announced as General Motors' new homologation team earlier this year, before Craig Lowndes signed a wildcard deal.

Lee Holdsworth will also return for a second season with Team 18, after racing to second in the Repco Bathurst 1000 alongside David Reynolds last month.

The team will confirm its 2026 pairings in due course.

“I’m pretty excited to be working with Adrian again. I’ve had a huge amount of success with him, we first met and worked together in the 2000s in Europe, so to be back working with him is really special. We’ve been together on and off at HRT, at DJR, and back in Europe. Not only do I respect him for all his achievements, but he’s also a good mate,” said Courtney, who insisted he couldn't go "cold turkey" and stop racing.

“I’m super excited to be working with him, and then also with Charlie, given our history together winning the championship. Charlie’s been a boss before, but also a really good mate for a long time.

“What they’ve done with the growth at Team 18 is fantastic, and now being the homologation team for General Motors is also very inviting for me. I started my Supercars career as an endurance driver for the GM factory team, so it’s quite fitting that I’ll finish my career doing the same.

“To be honest, as soon as I announced I wasn’t going to be driving full-time anymore, Charlie called me straight away. That eagerness showed that he really wanted it, and that the team wanted me to be part of it all. It was a pretty cool feeling to still be wanted after twenty-odd years. It’s been really nice.”

Courtney also returns to the GM fold, having raced Fords since 2020.

Schwerkolt added: “It’s really special to welcome James into the Team 18 family. This is a massive signing for Team 18, a real coup.

“James is a proven champion and one of the sport’s most respected and recognisable names, and there was no shortage of interest in his signature once he announced his retirement. It took a lot of convincing, but we made it clear from the start how much we wanted him.

“Securing someone of his calibre shows our intent as a team and where we want to go, we’re here to win races and to proudly represent Chevrolet as the homologation partner moving forward. It’s our job to prepare a package that can go out there and get the job done.

“To reunite with James after the success we shared in 2010 is something really special. We’ve stayed great friends since that championship year, and to now have him join what we’ve built at Team 18 for the next chapter of his career feels like things have come full circle.

“Now comes the fun part, deciding who he goes with! Between James and Lee as our co-drivers, and Anton and Dave as our main drivers, we’ve got one of the strongest four-driver line-ups in pit lane to take on the Great Race next year.”

The 2025 Supercars season resumes at the Penrite Oil Sandown 500 on November 14-16.