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For a team which finished second at last year’s Bathurst 1000, Ford’s James Courtney and David Besnard haven’t garnered much attention.
Maybe it’s because former Formula One test driver Courtney has once again failed to live up to his hype in the V8 Supercar championship.
The 28-year-old may have finally broken through for his maiden race win, at Queensland Raceway in July, but he sits eighth and out of the running on the standings.
Or perhaps it’s because Besnard is not a V8 Supercar fulltimer – the Stone Brothers Racing Team are again bucking the trend of pairing the two gun drivers together, going with a traditional lead driver/co-driver combination.
“With the driver/co-driver set up, we’re both clear on what our role is. There’s no fighting for status within the team and we can focus on getting the job done,” Courtney said.
“A lot of people don’t really rate Bezzy and I as a chance but our past results speak for themselves.
“We don’t listen to all the talk. We know we’re a chance and we’ll put our heads down and go hard.”
SBR’s other main man Shane van Gisbergen, who has been compared to a young Craig Lowndes, will team up with little-known Sydney driver Jonathon Webb, the pair rated a $51 chance.
“We don’t mind being the underdog. It takes a bit of pressure off,” said van Gisbergen, 19.
Ford’s Lowndes and Jamie Whincup will be gunning for their third straight title at Mount Panorama and go in deserved $3.50 favourites.
Reigning series champion Garth Tander and five-time Bathurst winner Mark Skaife are equal second favourites at $4 for the Holden Racing Team, alongside Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom and Steven Richards.
“It’d be fair to say that HRT and FPR are going to be our main speed rivals but there are about eight cars that have the potential to win the race,” Whincup said.
“I think FPR are the ones to watch, though. The Jim Beam No.18 car with Will Davison and Steve Johnson – they ran third last year and will be very quick again – then you’ve got Tasman Motorsport, SBR and a few other cars that can win without doubt if the circumstances are right.”
Tander said the only other time he had paired up with Skaife at Bathurst – the 2006 race that ended in a first-lap shunt – should not be considered a form guide.
“We both have the same goals and we’re both out for a bit of revenge,” he said.
The action gets underway tomorrow with practice, ahead of qualifying on Friday and Saturday and the Great Race on Sunday.
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