The JELD-WEN Motorsport team of James Courtney and David Besnard will start tomorrow’s L&H 500 from third on the grid following a great performance in today’s two 14-lap sprint races at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

SP Tools Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb were not far behind their team-mates, securing seventh place on tomorrow’s grid.

Courtney came away with a hard-fought third position in race ‘B’ this afternoon, after starting from the front row of the grid, qualifying in second place earlier in the day.

The JELD-WEN Motorsport driver was sandwiched between Will Davison and Jamie Whincup into the first corner, Courtney satisfied to settle into third position behind the two on the opening lap.

Third is where Courtney stayed for the rest of the race however it was by no means an easy job, old team-mate Russell Ingall hustling the 28-year-old all the way to the finish line.

Co-driver Besnard did a mighty job in race ‘A’ with work to do after qualifying in 18th position. A slick start and gritty race saw him fight his way to tenth before he completed the JELD-WEN Motorsport team’s compulsory tyre stop on lap seven.

Besnard rejoined the race in 19th position and the JELD-WEN Motorsport driver quickly got back to the task at hand, racing his way into 13th position by the chequered flag.

In the SP Tools Racing Falcon, Shane van Gisbergen started this afternoon’s ‘B’ race from ninth, immediately improving to seventh in the opening laps.

The young Kiwi was passed by Jason Richards on lap six but regained that position and another when Richards tangled with Steven Richards, moving van Gisbergen into fifth where he remained until the finish line.

SP Tools Racing’s Jonathon Webb eased his way into his race and was the first car to pit for tyres when the compulsory pit stop window opened at the end of lap five. The SP Tools Racing crew’s strategy proved beneficial, with Webb fighting his way into 16th position after starting from grid position 20.

The JELD-WEN Motorsport and SP Tools Racing Falcons will be on track at 10:25am tomorrow for a 20 minute warm-up before the 500km feature race at 1:30pm.

James Courtney, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“It was a good one today, I really enjoyed the race with Russell (Ingall). The rear bar is hanging off a bit but he didn’t hit me hard enough to fire me off. He was giving it a red hot go.

“The tyre life on the JELD-WEN Motorsport Falcon wasn’t fantastic, it dropped off a fair bit in the race today so we need to work hard tonight on that and sharpen it up for tomorrow.

“I thought the format today was good. I had a great time sitting in the garage and watching, shouting and hitting the screen.”

David Besnard, JELD-WEN Motorsport
“Things turned out really good for us today. I feel like I redeemed myself in the race after a shocking qualifying session. That is where you struggle not being a full timer in the series.

“I got a great start but couldn’t do that much with it as I came up hard behind Bairdo (Craig Baird). We got a few in the start and it was really the awesome strategy that got us up there. It suited the position we were in and got us up to third among the stoppers in the first race.

“I didn’t know what to expect in the race, if everyone would be looking after the cars making sure there was no damage but it didn’t seem that way; everyone was racing pretty hard and it was pretty chaotic in the first few laps.

“The JELD-WEN Falcon felt fairly good, it just needs a bit of a polish for the race tomorrow.

Race B
1. Jamie Whincup
2. Will Davison
3. James Courtney
4. Russell Ingall
5. Shane Van Gisbergen
6. Jason Richards
7. Garth Tander
8. Marcus Marshall
9. Steven Richards
10. Glenn Seton        

Race A
1. R.Kelly/P.Radisich
2. W.Luff/S.Owen
3. J.Bright/A.Macrow
4. F.Coulthard/J.McIntyre
5. M.Caruso/L.Holdsworth
6. A.Jones/C.McConville
7. B.Jones/M.Wilson
8. J.Bargwanna/T.D'Alberto
9. S.Ellery/G.Ritter
10. A.Thompson/P.Weel
13. D.Besnard
16. J.Webb

Qualifying B
1. Jamie Whincup 1:33.3175
2. James Courtney 1:33.3345
3. Garth Tander 1:33.3444
4. Will Davison 1:33.3855
5. Russell Ingall 1:33.7452
6. Jason Richards 1:33.9237
7. Steven Richards 1:33.9593
8. Paul Radisich 1:33.9705
9. Shane Van Gisbergen 1:33.9773
10. Luke Youlden 1:34.0108

Qualifying A
1. Mark Winterbottom 1:33.4117
2. Craig Lowndes 1:33.7058
3. Jason Bright 1:33.8180
4. Fabian Coulthard 1:33.8525
5. Steve Owen 1:33.9063
6. Rick Kelly 1:33.9633
7. Mark Skaife 1:34.0875
8. Steven Johnson 1:34.0999
9. Greg Murphy 1:34.1965
10. Lee Holdsworth 1:34.2222
18. David Besnard 1:34.7104
20. Jonathon Webb 1:34.9262

Practice B
1. Steven Richards 1:33.3269
2. Jamie Whincup 1:33.5923
3. James Courtney 1:33.6475
4. Will Davison 1:33.7925
5. Russell Ingall 1:33.9056
6. Shane Van Gisbergen 1:34.1770
7. Luke Youlden 1:34.2186
8. Marcus Marshall 1:34.3523
9. Andrew Jones 1:34.3765
10. Jack Perkins 1:34.4254

Practice A
1. Craig Lowndes 1:32.7693
2. Mark Winterbottom 1:33.4256
3. Jason Bright 1:33.4867
4. Dean Canto 1:33.5532
5. Paul Morris 1:33.5740
6. Steve Owen 1:33.5781
7. Steven Johnson 1:33.8140
8. Cameron McConville 1:33.8285
9. Rick Kelly 1:33.8984
10. Fabian Coulthard 1:33.9356
18. David Besnard 1:34.2193
23. Jonathon Webb 1:34.9631

For further information on this release or to obtain high resolution images please contact:
Jenny Thompson, PR & Media Manager, Stone Brothers Racing
Tel: 07 3807 7717  Mob: 0412 844 644