While it’s customary for retiring full-time drivers to continue in an endurance co-driving capacity, Courtney is undecided about a return to what he calls “shit-kicker” duties.
Courtney made his Supercars debut as a co-driver with the Holden Racing Team in 2005 before joining the category full-time the following season.
The 44-year-old veteran won the championship in 2010 and has triumphed at other marquee events such as Adelaide and the Gold Coast, but Bathurst has remained elusive.
“I don’t know. I might just mic drop it and never be seen again,” Courtney said when asked by Speedcafe about his co-driving plans following a surprise podium finish in Perth on Sunday.
“It’s a hard thing. I’ve only ever done this my whole life, and I think to walk away, it’s going to be hard.
“You come into the sport and you’re the guy who helps out at enduros and then you’re the man and you’re the guy steering the ship and calling the shots.
“Then to go back and be the shit-kicker again… I haven’t made a call yet. I’ll get through this year and then see how we feel at the end of it.”
Courtney is already working hard on establishing a post-driving career, currently holding down a part-time role in real estate and making occasional Supercars TV appearances.
Whether he lands a full-time Supercars TV deal and what co-driving opportunities are available are likely to have a major bearing on his decision.
Courtney’s marketability and commercial savvy could also open the possibility of leading a wildcard with a major team, as Craig Lowndes has done in recent years.
One thing Courtney was emphatic about in the wake of his breakthrough podium on Sunday is that he won’t go back on the decision to retire from full-time driving.
“No mate, I’m done. I might be finished this afternoon actually. I might not see out the rest of the year!” he laughed.
“But no. Hopefully this can sort of finish on a high and I can walk away competitive. I don’t want to be that guy where everyone is quietly saying ‘he needs to pack it in’.
“So yeah, I think I’ll see out this year still.”
While Courtney’s comments about a sudden exit were very much in jest, there had been murmurs after BRT’s Taupo shocker that he may have been looking for an early out.
Courtney described Taupo as “my worst ever Supercars weekend” after the BRT Mustangs locked out the back row for every race.
A sudden mid-season move would not have been without precedent for Courtney, who split with Team Sydney just one event into the 2020 campaign before returning with Tickford.
Taupo triggered a series of changes at BRT that included tightening a relationship with Walkinshaw Andretti United and tweaking its own staffing line-up.
“Taupo was pretty dark, but I committed to these guys,” Courtney said when asked if he’d considered not seeing out the year.
“What you guys see is very different to what’s happening behind the scenes. I knew everything that was happening, what was changing.
“We had to go through that bad stuff. It’s like being an alcoholic, you’ve got to admit you’ve got a problem before you can fix it.
“We were really going through that process. It was always going to turn. I’m super excited now for what’s coming.”
Courtney raced open-wheel and GT cars in the UK and Japan before joining Supercars in a junior career that had him reach the doorstep of Formula 1.
However, since joining Supercars he’s barely set foot outside the category, raising the question of whether snubbing a co-drive would spell the end of his racing career entirely.
“I loved the GT stuff when I was younger, doing all that,” he said of other racing goals.
“I wouldn’t mind having a fang and keeping my toe in the water. We’ve got some mates that are pretty heavily into the GT side of things, that could be pretty cool.
“[But] I’ve had an amazing career. I was lucky enough to go away at a young age and do all that European stuff and have fun with all that.
“I can comfortably take off my hat at the end of this happy with what I’ve done and not feel that I need to do anything more.”
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