COURTNEY COVID-19 DELAY

James Courtney COVID-19 delay – Photo: LAT

James Courtney’s bid to rejoin the Supercars championship is being hampered by the outbreak of Covid-19.

By BRUCE NEWTON

Courtney is being linked heavily to a third Erebus Motorsport entry with the backing of his long-time personal sponsor Boost Mobile.

Courtney started the year at Team Sydney with Boost joining the effort just prior to the Adelaide 500.

But both driver and backer made a shock departure from the squad within days of that event. Courtney has since all but confirmed the split was over money issues.

The Erebus deal was one of number Courtney and Boost were said to be investigating, but was thought to be at the top of the list.

It is understood to involve wildcard entries to single driver sprint rounds and an attack on the Pirtek Enduro Cup in an Erebus Holden Commodore ZB.

But with the coronavirus expected to force the postponement of several Supercars rounds, as well as wreaking havoc on the economy and travel logistics, Courtney admits his search for a new seat have been hampered.

“There’s a bit going on with a lot of things at the moment in the world,” Courtney told Auto Action. “Stock market is falling, coronavirus is going crazy, Supercars can’t race anywhere.

“So there is a bit going on at the moment. Once we are in a position where we can say something we will.”

One other thing that may hurt a three-car expansion proposal for Erebus is workload if the calendar suddenly becomes compacted with postponed rounds being squeezed into the calendar later in the year.

Courtney refused to comment on the Erebus link, but it is known Boost has previously been in discussion with the team about a possible sponsorship..

Erebus boss Barry Ryan wouldn’t offer any comment on a potential tie-up.

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