A podium result for James Courtney in Perth continued the veteran’s recent rich vein of form in the Tickford Racing Ford Mustang.
Nearly reaching his second anniversary with the team Courtney equalled his best result of second in the finale, completing a weekend of top 10 results.
Courtney led for much of the third race and was close to victory due to an error of judgement from Repco Supercars Championship leader Shane van Gisbergen, who thought the Tickford Racing Mustang was further down the field.
Following on from improved performances at the Australian Grand Prix where an incident involving Chaz Mostert scuppered another podium chance Courtney was enthusiastic of the team’s chances moving forward.
“It was good that we were legitimately there on speed and strategy,” said Courtney.
“We didn’t get this podium from these two bumping into each other and us wobbling around to pick up the pieces.
“That’s confident boosting for us as a team and going into Winton, but also our car has been quite competitive at a few different circuits, it’s not just good at one then last at the other, so it’s nice to have that consistency.”
Courtney credits a personnel shuffle and an updated chassis for his upturn in competitiveness.
“We’ve had a car and engineer change, so I think all those things contribute,” Courtney explained. “I’ve got a newer car, the same as what he’s [Waters] got, the engineering change and me driving the thing a little longer, so I think there are a few things.
“As a team, I think we’re lifting as well trying to get that consistency and I think we are.”
Although encouraged by the current form demonstrated by the entire team, Courtney warned there was still work to do to match the leading two squads, Shell V-Power Racing and Red Bull Ampol Racing Team.
“We’re still nowhere near what these guys are able to achieve, but at the moment we have to be the best of the rest, keep chipping away and hopefully get a chance to challenge these guys on a more regular basis,” Courtney said.
“We still have a lot of little things that we have to tidy up, not only with us functioning as a team, but also with the car, the build, the way the car is prepped and things like that. If we clean up all those one percenters and have all the ducks in a row, then we can challenge these guys.
“At the moment, as a team I don’t think we’re at that same level as those guys, we’re pushing to be there and as a group we’ve accepted we’ve got areas we need to clean up, to be sharper and pay attention to because all those things you do better at add to those little one percenters.
“As much as it is a cliché, I think that’s what these guys as a team are able to execute 98 percent every weekend and most races, so we need to be executing at that level to be able to challenge them.”
I think the consistency and ability to comeback if they have a bad session in being able to recover so quickly is something we as a group need to work on.