Joe Gibbs Driven

The JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon was the fastest car at Queensland Raceway after the three-leg elimination style qualifying session and Courtney used his front row position to full advantage, getting off the line swiftly to beat fellow Ford driver Mark Winterbottom into the first corner.

The Stone Brothers Racing driver completed his compulsory pit stop on lap 11, one lap after second-placed Winterbottom. A clean stop by the SBR crew had Courtney back out on track in front of the Ford Performance Racing driver, securing first position in the 38-lap race.

The race win was Courtney’s first in his two-and-a-half year V8 Supercar career, today’s pole position his second, his first coming at the Clipsal 500 in 2007.

It has also been a long time between drinks for SBR, their last race win with Marcos Ambrose at Phillip Island in 2005.

In stark contrast, Courtney’s team-mate, SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen had a disappointing race.

Van Gisbergen started from 12th on the grid and was forced out wide at turn two on the first lap, unable to get across. Soon after he took a trip onto the grass to avoid a spinning Andrew Jones, the move dropping him close to the rear of the field.

The SP Tools Racing driver had no choice to put his head down and was able to climb back up to 19th position by the end of the 38-lap race.

The SP Tools Racing crew are looking to make small changes to the BF Falcon overnight and climb further up the order tomorrow.

Courtney and van Gisbergen will be back on track at 11:00am tomorrow for race two before the third and final race at 1:40pm.

In the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, SBR’s Jonathon Webb finished race one in third position after qualifying fourth earlier in the day.

James Courtney, #4, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“It’s great to get the monkey off my back and get that first V8 Supercar win. Now that we have that win, hopefully we can get on with winning some more.

“The SBR guys have had a tough couple of years and it is particularly rewarding for the JELD-WEN guys.

“This win has been two-and-a-half years in the making, thank god it has arrived and it is not hanging over us anymore.

“The JELD-WEN Falcon was good today, probably not perfect and it wasn’t a particularly easy race.

“Mark’s (Winterbottom) car was probably better than mine in the end by I had track position on my side.

“Starting on the front row again tomorrow is a great advantage. If we can get off the line well and have a good stop there is no reason why we can’t do it all again tomorrow.”