Courtney: the band is back together
Courtney swiped his former team manager from Red Bull Racing Australia at the end of last year and it was ironic that his victory today came with a red hot Craig Lowndes exerting maximum pressure.
He also returned from the savage crash that he had at Phillip Island last November where he smashed a leg, then endured a two-month rehabilitation program over Christmas.
With Adrian Burgess in his corner Courtney kept Lowndes at bay across the line with Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen recovering from a pit lane penalty for third. Van Gisbergen's effort, although he benefitted from Coates Hire's Nick Percat hitting the treacherous turn eight wall at the end.
Courtney said it was a good day for HRT but not a sign that the mighty Holden factory team would suddenly be a force again, instead taking time after a series of team changes, including Burgess.
"It certainly has been a big couple of months and I have complete faith in ATB (Burgess) and that's why I was pretty pumped when he came on board and it is just the tip of the iceberg," said Courtney.
"We are polishing a nugget at the moment, we have plenty of work that we have to do to match these guys weekend in, weekend out because they are definitely are still the class of the field at the moment and we just managed to get on top of it this race today."
Courtney said Burgess was already having a solid impact.
"This is the first time that HRT has opened their eyes and ears and are listening to other opinions and realized that we didn't know and have all the answers," he said.
It was Courtney's first win in Adelaide.
"It's definitely my favorite event, Bathurst is a cool place – the fans and the history makes that – but this place is out of control," he said.
"We roll in here on the Tuesday; 300,000 crazy people come here each weekend and cheer us on and to have that feeling and the vibe in that town makes it so much better and pleasurable for us.
"We all lift our game and it's such a great atmosphere to win in."
It was a crazy race day, as is often the case in Adelaide. Crash, bang and controversy. Penalties a plenty, a massive rollover and the reigning Champion is strife.
Saturday's Volvo hero Scott McLaughlin was ready to do it all again after his podium the day before running in third with a dozen laps to go before some type of failure ended his day, stopped on track.
Whincup copped a penalty for his car controller illegally assisting the crew to repair a damaged right front and when he returned he took too much into a corner trying to make up places.
The contact with Norton Hornet's Michael Caruso ended both drivers' day.
"First of all big apologies to Michael," Whincup said. "I came in all out of control trying to get some positions back after the pit lane penalty. Big apologies to Michael and his crew."
Caruso salvaged fourteenth place having been as high as sixth before the incident.
Jason Bright was uninjured in a major rollover following a restart when his car flipped at the first corner as the field jostled for places.
He was uninjured despite the spectacular crash. Others to suffer big impacts were Will Davison in the Citizen Erebus Motorsport V8 Mercedes Benz unfortunately for him and his new team who were putting together a reasonable race at that point.
Just like Van Gisbergen, Rick Kelly fought back to fifth from a drive-through penalty in his Nissan Altima as they show ominous signs for the coming events.
V8 Supercars heads to the 2014 Formula One Rolex Australian Grand Prix in 10 days' time to do it all again.
Results
| Pos | Make | Driver | Team | Laps | Race Time | Fast Lap |
| 1 | Holden Commodore VF | James Courtney | Holden Racing Team | 76 | 1 57:52.9385 | 1:21.9718 |
| 2 | Holden Commodore VF | Craig Lowndes | Red Bull Racing Australia | 76 | 1 57:53.6045 | 1:21.8908 |
| 3 | Holden Commodore VF | Shane van Gisbergen | Team Tekno VIP Petfoods | 76 | 1 57:57.7960 | 1:21.8162 |
| 4 | Holden Commodore VF | Fabian Coulthard | Lockwood Racing | 76 | 1 57:58.5960 | 1:21.9481 |
| 5 | Nissan Altima | Rick Kelly | Jack Daniel's Racing | 76 | 1 57:58.8457 | 1:22.0262 |
| 6 | Holden Commodore VF | Tim Slade | Supercheap Auto Racing | 76 | 1 57:59.7334 | 1:22.0664 |
| 7 | Ford Falcon FG | David Reynolds | The Bottle-O Racing Team | 76 | 1 58:0.5063 | 1:22.3312 |
| 8 | Ford Falcon FG | David Wall | Wilson Security Racing | 76 | 1 58:1.7920 | 1:22.4748 |
| 9 | Nissan Altima | James Moffat | Norton Hornets | 76 | 1 58:3.6914 | 1:22.2735 |
| 10 | Holden Commodore VF | Dale Wood | Team Advam/GB | 76 | 1 58:25.6430 | 1:22.4567 |
| 11 | Ford Falcon FG | Jack Perkins | Team JELD-WEN | 75 | 1 58:11.1177 | 1:22.5093 |
| 12 | Ford Falcon FG | Mark Winterbottom | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | 75 | 1 58:14.9870 | 1:21.9125 |
| 13 | Holden Commodore VF | Garth Tander | Holden Racing Team | 73 | 1 58:13.7740 | 1:21.9656 |
| 14 | Nissan Altima | Michael Caruso | Norton Hornets | 71 | 1 59:3.8160 | 1:21.9552 |
| 15 | Holden Commodore VF | Jamie Whincup | Red Bull Racing Australia | 68 | 1 58:38.0730 | 1:21.7813 |
| 16 | Mercedes E63 AMG | Lee Holdsworth | Erebus Motorsport V8 | 66 | 1 58:16.5610 | 1:21.6525 |
| 17 | Holden Commodore VF | Russell Ingall | Repair Management Aust Racing | 60 | 1 58:17.1953 | 1:22.6168 |
| DNF | Holden Commodore VF | Nick Percat | Walkinshaw Racing | 71 | 1 51:2.7607 | 1:21.9766 |
| DNF | Volvo S60 | Scott McLaughlin | Valvoline Racing GRM | 65 | 1 40:18.3525 | 1:21.9227 |
| DNF | Holden Commodore VF | Jason Bright | Team BOC | 13 | 21:32.3380 | 1:22.1487 |
| DNF | Ford Falcon FG | Scott Pye | Wilson Security Racing | 13 | 21:33.5873 | 1:22.0284 |
| DNF | Ford Falcon FG | Chaz Mostert | Ford Pepsi Max Crew | 13 | 21:35.0853 | 1:23.2436 |
| DNF | Volvo S60 | Robert Dahlgren | Valvoline Racing GRM | 12 | 19:15.7356 | 1:22.5456 |
| DNF | Mercedes E63 AMG | Will Davison | Erebus Motorsport V8 | 9 | 12:37.2811 | 1:22.2564 |
| DNF | Nissan Altima | Todd Kelly | Jack Daniel's Racing | 2 | 02:57.3482 | 1:23.7770 |