Courtney signs new contract extension with Tickford

Tickford Racing has announced James Courtney has signed a new contract extension with the team.

Courtney, who joined the Ford squad midway through 2020, will remain a Tickford driver for 2022 and beyond.

The 2010 series champion joined Tickford with Boost Mobile backing in May 2020.

His new ‘multi-year’ deal will make him a four-year Tickford driver at the very least.

He joins Thomas Randle as a confirmed Tickford driver for 2022, although Cameron Waters is widely tipped to remain with the team.

Courtney will record his 500th career race start early in the 2022 season, which will be his 17th as a full-time Supercars driver.

To date, Courtney has won 15 races from 482 starts. This month’s Bunnings Trade Sydney SuperNight will be his 216th round start.

The 41-year-old sits 12th on Supercars’ all-time list with 60 podium finishes, his last coming in Darwin last August.

Courtney scored a podium for Tickford in Darwin 2020

He is ninth in the 2021 standings heading to Sydney Motorsport Park.

"It’s awesome to get this deal done with Tim [Edwards] and the team, and I’m very excited to be sticking around with the boys and girls at Tickford," he said.

"We’ve got a really good team dynamic going and we’ve had some strong results on track since I joined the team a year and half ago.

"No doubt we want to do even better when we go back racing later this month, but I’m really enjoying working with the team and driver group at Tickford, and it’s a really nice feeling heading into the rest of the year knowing my future’s taken care of.

Courtney on track in Townsville in July

"It’s great to sort everything out and get that out of the way, which allows us to really go after the back half of this season, and hopefully take home a bunch of silverware to build our momentum for 2022."

Courtney signed on for the 2021 season late last year, and is chasing his first top 10 championship finish since 2015.

Tickford Racing CEO Edwards cited Courtney’s experience as a key factor in his re-signing.

Edwards was also keen to have Courtney in Tickford’s stable in the Gen3 era.

"James has been a great addition to the team since he’s come on board and we’re delighted to be going around again with him in a multi-year agreement," Edwards said.

"He’s been a great source of insight for our engineers and an excellent sounding board for his team mates since he joined our program, he’s fit in with the whole team really well and has driven some great races for us.

"We’re more than happy to keep him around. In addition to all that, we expect his feedback will be particularly valuable as we transition to and develop the Gen3 Ford Mustang, which certainly excites both of us quite a bit.

"We’re looking forward to seeing JC’s continued contributions to the team across the rest of this season, and are very excited to see what we can accomplish together in the future."