James Courtney has a burning desire to ensure Adelaide 2016 does not end up being his final Repco Supercars Championship race win.

Speaking with Speedcafe.com, the Tickford Racing driver made the brutal admission he didn’t actually recall the last time he’d stood atop a podium.

It has, after all, been more than 2000 days between drinks – that last triumph coming in spectacular fashion as he slid through Adelaide’s iconic Turn 8 at full speed to stave off Jamie Whincup.

“I honestly don’t know,” said the 41-year-old when racking his brain for his most recent victory.

“It’s a long time and it needs to be a lot sooner.”

Courtney has no shortage of achievements on his resume, none greater than beating Whincup and Mark Winterbottom to the 2010 championship.

It’s not as if he hasn’t been close in recent times: Courtney has never gone podium-less in any of his 16 main game seasons.

Asked what it would mean to him to grab one more victory, the Penrith product said: “It would be fantastic, I would love it.

“That’s what I’m trying to do every weekend.

“The team have been amazing, all of the guys on my crew have been great, Scaff [Sam Scaffidi] my engineer… it would be great to be able to deliver that for everyone else and myself.

“The kids are getting older and it would be good for them to be able to see it as well. Hopefully it happens soon.”

Courtney was just 18th in both practice sessions yesterday at Sydney Motorsport Park, although there is hope for Tickford Racing after Cameron Waters managed second in the evening session.

A talking point of late had been how Courtney’s #5 Ford Mustang would look and whether Boost Mobile would return as a sponsor, having taken naming rights across the entire Erebus Motorsport operation for 2022.

On the eve of the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight, an Opposite Lock-backed livery was unveiled, with no Boost Mobile branding to be seen.

Courtney, who is targeting a top five in the championship, noted the relationship between himself and Boost boss Peter Adderton is still very much alive, though.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Pete slowly sneaks on there at some stage but he has been a big backer of me for a long time,” said Courtney.

“We’ve been mates forever, he’s still on my helmet and stuff, but as a direction he obviously did the deal with Erebus earlier.

“It’s weird seeing my car without Boost on it at the moment but there’s still a rear quarter where it could go.”