James Courtney makes no apologies for swapping paint with his team-mate Garth Tander in the dying stages of Race 17 as he charged to a podium finish.

Enjoying fresher tyres than those around him thanks to a three-stop strategy, Courtney overtook Tander and David Reynolds in the final 15 laps to take second place.

Tension between Courtney and Tander rose as they briefly made contact during their battle, which triggered flashbacks to their costly clashes in Darwin and Winton.

As the 2010 V8 Supercars champion Courtney flashed up to Tander, the HRT sent messages to their drivers to ensure the combat remained clean.

“We lost a bit of time racing each other,” admitted Courtney post-race.

“(But) I don’t expect the guy to move over and point his arm out the window, he’s got his own race to run as well.

“I think we were all pretty surprised at the car speed we had. The team just said make sure it’s clean.

“So we both did the best job we could in keeping it was clean as possible.”

Courtney admitted the intra-team rivalry had allowed race winner Mark Winterbottom to scoot further up the road, but dismissed any suggestion it could have ruined a potential win.

The Holden took the chequered flag just three seconds behind Winterbottom’s Ford.

“For sure it held us up and I think Mark (Winterbottom) was three or four seconds down the road, (but) getting past is another thing,” he continued.

Courtney said there was no malice against Tander and he would have defended the position staunchly if the positions were reversed.

“Everyone is there to compete. I haven’t got anything against him. He is there to race,” he said.

“I would have defended. We were racing hard but firm and none of us went off so it was fun.”

Tander said the battle was what fans want to see.

“Yes (we put on a bit of a show),” he acknowledged.

“That is what the punters pay their money to come and see so that is what they get.”