How close Courtney was to racing
By Thomas Miles
Date posted: 14 March 2025
James Courtney is ready to race today after Blanchard Racing Team fell just minutes short of repairing the Mustang in time for last night’s sprint.
Courtney enters Friday’s Race 5 at Albert Park on the back foot after missing both Thursday qualifying sessions and the opening 19-lap heat of the Melbourne SuperSprint.
He will start today’s 19-lap sprint from the back of the grid, but BRT is confident the car is good to go after the 2010 champion gave former Renault Formula 1 driver Joylon Palmer some hot laps on Friday morning.
However, BRT came heartbreakingly close to getting the badly damaged #7 Mustang repaired and race ready last night.
After Courtney lost the rear and found the Turn 5 fence in Practice 2, the team was left with just under four hours to repair the car, which suffered significant damage to especially the transaxle, rear clip and left rear tyre.
BRT gave it everything and Courtney even suited up and jumped in the car, but the team just missed the cut.
BRT Team Principal Tim Blanchard believes Courtney would have raced if Supercars still enjoyed its own pit lane at Albert Park after being kicked out last year.
“We were about two to three minutes away from making it and if we were in our own pit lane we would have been racing,” he told Auto Action.
“I think not having our own pit lane and them having to close the gate as the cars come around on the formation lap cost us made it harder.
“If it was a normal race where we had our own lane, we would have had a bit more time and made it and could have started in the lane.
“It emphasis how close we were to getting it out there and the great work from our team.
“Everything on the left hand side and the rear of the car was destroyed – trans axle, rear clip and whole left hand side, so we had a fair amount of damage.
“As disappointing as it was to miss the race, it was a remarkable effort from the team to get it so close in such a short timeframe.”
Despite the disappointment of last night, Blanchard said the added time overnight has given the team more certainty Courtney’s car will be firing on all cylinders having already seen the #7 on track this morning with the British veteran of 35 Grands Prix.
“It is never ideal rushing together a car at the track, but once we missed it we used the extra time last night and this morning to undo some of the work we did yesterday to doublecheck things in a more slow and relaxed environment,” he said.
“James did some laps this morning taking Jolyon Palmer for a ride which gave us a mechanical check.
“Mechanically it all seems good and we are now getting the set-up right and ready to attack the rest of the weekend.”
Image: BRT
2025 Australian Grand Prix schedule
Race 1 (19 laps) 1: B. Feeney 2: W. Brown +1.0924 3: C. Hill +3.7603
8.50-9.35 Formula 3 Practice
10.00-10.45 Formula 2 Practice
12.30-13.30 Formula 1 Practice 1
14.00-14.30 Formula 3 Qualifying
14.50 Supercars Race 2 (19 laps)
16.00-17.00 Formula 1 Practice 2
17.30-16.00 Formula 2 Qualifying
18.25-19.00 Carrera Cup Race 2
9.05-9.15 Supercars Qualifying 3
9.25-9.35 Supercars Qualifying 4
11.15 Formula 3 Sprint Race (20 laps)
12.30-13.30 Formula 1 Practice 3
14.15 Formula 2 Sprint Race (23 laps)
16.00-17.00 Formula 1 Qualifying
17.40 Supercars Race 3 (19 laps)
18.45-19.20 Carrera Cup Race 3
9.00 Formula 3 Feature Race (23 laps)
10.25 Supercars Race 4 (14 laps)
11.30 Formula 2 Feature Race (33 laps)
15.00 Formula 1 Grand Prix (58 laps)
Grand Prix week signals the launch for Auto Action’s all-new monthly printed magazine – coffee-table reading packed with in-depth features from around the motorsport world. On sale at newsagents from tomorrow.
A full F1 car by car preview can also be found in the LATEST ISSUE OF AUTO ACTION DIGITAL HERE
For more of the latest motorsport news, subscribe to AUTO ACTION magazine.
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