WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15: James Courtney arrives in New Zealand today pinning his hopes on a second successive podium in the Hamilton 400 to ignite his V8 Supercar Championship title bid after a disappointing start to the series.

"Another podium in New Zealand would help because I need to recover and re-start my season after all the dramas in Adelaide," said the 28-year-old Jim Beam Racing FG Falcon driver.

"I was quick at Hamilton a year ago and hopefully that's the case again in the races this weekend to get some big (championship) points."

Courtney emerged third overall in the inaugural 2008 Hamilton 400. He qualified fourth and finished fourth, third, and third in the three races.

However, after an off-season team switch to Jim Beam Racing, the Gold Coast driver goes into the second event in this year's championship 21st in the points after a series of setbacks in the series-opening Clipsal 500 in March.

He qualified fourth in Adelaide, but finished 20th in the first race after a cool suit failure and contact with the Autobarn Commodore driven by Paul Dumbrell.

Courtney's attempts to improve in race two nosedived when he crashed in the warm-up and damaged his car. He eventually finished the second race 24th, 15 laps behind the leaders after five pit-stops.

"Speed-wise, I was competitive in Adelaide, both in qualifying and in the opening stint of the first race before things started going wrong," he said.

"My car has been repaired in the last few weeks so now we are ready to go."

"Adelaide was a setback, but I'm still in it as far as the championship goes. Over the season all the top guys will probably have a bad weekend somewhere, as we've seen in the past, so it will even itself out."

Courtney said he was encouraged by the performances in Adelaide of his team-mate Steve Johnson, who was fourth in both races in an identical Triple Eight Engineering-built FG Falcon.

"Steve showed our cars are quick in Adelaide so that's a good sign for the future," said Courtney.

Courtney said he did not expect the change to the qualifying format for the Hamilton event would have a major impact on grid positions for the two 200km races on the 3.4km street circuit.

In Adelaide there was a single qualifying session to determine the grid for both races. However, at Hamilton there will be separate qualifying sessions for each race.

"Unless something unexpected happens, I think you will still see most of same fast guys up the front whether you have one or two qualifying sessions," said Courtney, who qualified in the top 10 in 11 of the 14 events in the 2008 championship and won pole position at Queensland Raceway.

The Hamilton event begins with three practice sessions on Friday, with qualifying and races the following two days.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS (after round 1): Jamie Whincup (Falcon) 300; Will Davison (Commodore) 267, Lee Holdsworth (Commodore) 249, Steven Johnson (Falcon) 222, Jason Richards (Commodore) 207, Craig Lowndes (Falcon) 168, Shane Van Gisbergen (Falcon) 168, Rick Kelly (Commodore) 156, Jason Bright (Falcon) 141, Fabian Coulthard (Falcon) 141. Other: James Courtney (Falcon) 68.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Mike Porter - Tel: (0417) 311-997. E-mail: mikep@qldnet.com.au

WEBSITE: http://www.jamescourtney.com.au

PHOTOGRAPHS: 300-dpi jpeg images of James Courtney available for media/editorial use