JELD-WEN Motorsport’s James Courtney has finished second at the Desert 400 today following a pair of second places in races two and three.
Courtney led the final race at the Bahrain International Circuit after a fantastic start from second on the grid, the JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon beating Mark Winterbottom into the first corner.
Courtney had Winterbottom’s measure as the race progressed but was unable to hold off a fast finishing Craig Lowndes when the Team Vodafone driver exited the pits on new tyres on lap 17.
The JELD-WEN Motorsport driver had another great start from sixth on the grid in race two, getting the jump on team-mate Ingall to be in fifth position at the end of lap one.
On lap three Rick Kelly and Garth Tander come together in turn one, the pair loosing position. Courtney was able to slip up the inside into second place which he maintained for the remainder of the 31-lap race.
Caltex Racing’s Russell Ingall had a tougher day but fought back to finish seventh for the round.
Ingall started race three from eight on the grid but slipped back to 11th by lap two when he was forced wide to avoid the first corner chaos.
The Caltex Racing driver had a great dice with Jason Bargwanna for a number of laps before moving into tenth position before his compulsory pit stop.
Ingall rejoined the race and ground away to claim seventh at the chequered flag.
The Caltex Racing driver started from fifth in race two and was again hung out to dry when he avoided an obstacle course of spinning cars at turn one.
Ingall dropped to sixth before his compulsory stop and rejoined the race to battle for position with Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards. With his tyres going off, Ingall was unable to hold off the pair and settled for eighth position.
Courtney is currently in eighth position in the V8 Supercar Championship Series standings on 309 points following his points haul today. Team-mate Ingall is in ninth position on 297 points.
Russell Ingall, car #9, Caltex Racing
“We were what you would call steady not stunning today.
“In both races we had bad first laps; the starts weren’t great and we got hung out to dry with a few of the incident in turn one.
“I managed to keep out of most of it but had to go round the outside a couple of times which cost us positions.
“We’d then be back in the pack and it was a bit of a job from there.
“The Caltex Racing Falcon has been strong this weekend; we had a good qualifying and some solid racing so it’s not all bad. ”
James Courtney, car #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“We ran quite well all weekend; Mark (Winterbottom) was the pace setter.
“To get a great start and get ahead of Mark in the last race and to be able to pull a gap on him was great for us.
“When Craig (Lowndes) came out of the pits I knew that he would have very good tyres so I really couldn’t fight too much. I hoped that once his tyres went off he might come back to me but that didn’t happen.
“All year we have had good speed and it’s just little things that don’t go our way that have prevented us from getting podiums.
“SBR has had three in a row now so it’s great to finally have things coming right and get the rewards.
“I thought that a round win could finally be on the cards today. We’ve been getting closer and closer. We may not always have the outright pace of some of the others but we have been racing really well.
“It’s been driving me crazy seeing these guys on the top step; hopefully our turn is not far away. ”
Ross Stone, Team Manager, Stone Brothers Racing “The JELD-WEN Falcon was very good today. We had a very strong race package in the final race and James did a great job.
“We had (Mark) Winterbottom covered but (Criag) Lowndes had the advantage of good tyres after not running in race one yesterday.
“The team’s pit stops got better and better over the weekend; the JELD-WEN Falcon’s stop under pressure with WInterbottom also in the pits was superb.
“Russell was unlucky on the first laps of both races; he really got hung out to dry and just had to grind away from there as best he could. ”
V8 Supercars – Meeting Points
1. Mark Winterbottom 65 pts
2. James Courtney 52 pts
3. Steven Johnson 44 pts
4. Will Davison 40 pts
5. Garth Tander 38 pts
6. Craig Lowndes 37 pts
7. Russell Ingall 34 pts
8. Rick Kelly 30 pts
9. Dean Canto 24 pts
10. Jason Bargwanna 23 pts
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