.jpg "Courtney in the V8 Advert with Pink|Photo Jamescourtney.com.au")
Jim Beam Racing Ford Falcon driver James Courtney was hampered by engine and fuel pump problems and finished 20th fastest in today's practice sessions for the third event of this year's V8 Supercar Championship in Adelaide.
The problems restricted Courtney to just seven laps of driving in two practice sessions on the 3.2km street circuit. He failed to complete a lap in his first session because of an engine failure. The JELD-WEN sponsored racer drove seven laps in his second session, but was hampered by fuel pump problems.
Courtney is fifth in this year's championship. His past results in the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide include winning pole position as fastest qualifier in 2007 and finishing second and third in the two races that year.
Tomorrow's on-track format comprises a qualifying session, followed by the Top 10 Shoot Out and the first of two 250km (78-lap) races. The second race is on Sunday.
COURTNEY PRACTICE RESULTS:
Session 1: no laps completed, no time recorded, 29th position
Session 2: 7 laps completed, best lap 1-min 22.583-secs, 20th position
Fastest lap: Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone) 1-min 21.372-secs
COURTNEY QUOTES: "Not a good start today, especially when this race counts for the $2-million Grand Slam prize (announced today)! Things began going wrong with the engine problem on my first lap out of the pits. The car stopped on the circuit. We got it back to the pits and the team did an engine change. There wasn't much time between sessions, and I missed the first 20-minutes of the next session. Once I did get going there were fuel pump issues, and things had to be replaced. I managed a couple of flying laps, but the car wasn't running cleanly. The team is working to fix things for qualifying, and if everything is sorted I think I can run with the front group because 250km is a long race. Where I'm behind the other guys right now is car set-up. I've only done seven laps which is a lot less track time than Whincup (25 laps completed), Winterbottom (26), Van Gisbergen (24) and Tander (34)."
