Courtney plummets down standings after NZ nightmare

Few drivers endured more pain on the points table than James Courtney after a “tough” weekend.

Courtney’s Pukekohe weekend ended in the Turn 1 concrete after a four-wide clash.

It was the second time in as many days that Courtney had been caught up in four-wide drama.

He got away with it on Saturday, but the 2010 champion wasn’t as lucky on Sunday.

Courtney was sandwiched by Tickford teammate Jake Kostecki and Todd Hazelwood.

The end result was the #5 Snowy River Caravans Ford making heavy right-side contact with the wall.

Courtney got out of the car under his steam, although Tickford is now facing pre-Bathurst repairs.

Results of 18th, 16th and DNF have seen Courtney drop to 12th in the points.

He arrived in New Zealand in ninth, and just 40 points from eighth.

Courtney is now 171 points from eighth-placed Andre Heimgartner heading to Bathurst.

“It was a pretty frustrating day, to be honest,” he said.

"We struggled big time in qualifying and just couldn’t put the lap together which put us down the back of both races.

Pic: Tayler Burke

“Obviously that makes things pretty difficult and we learned the hard way about being back there later on.

"We picked up a few spots in the first race which was okay, but second race was over pretty quickly.”

Courtney explained he tried to protect Kostecki heading into Turn 1, but could do little with Hazelwood.

The four-time Bathurst podium-finisher has already turned his attention to next month’s Great Race.

Courtney will share the #5 Ford with Zane Goddard, who is keen to perform in a bid to score a 2023 seat.

Teams will test at Winton Motor Raceway on September 20.

Bathurst won't be the only thing on Courtney's mind, with partner Tegan due to give birth in October.

"Bizarrely it was another four-wide into Turn 1 scenario,” Courtney said of his Race 29 crash.

"Jake was outside of me so I was trying to look after him, and Todd clipped my right rear and away we went.

"It’s a really tough way to end the weekend, but we’ll regroup and turn our focus to Bathurst.”

"We’ll have a good test day next week.

"I’m really looking forward to teaming up with my little mate Zane [Goddard] for the big one.”

Tickets for the Repco Bathurst 1000 are available on Supercars.com and Ticketek.