Supercars racer James Courtney has admitted he had no intention of announcing his impending retirement in the way in which he did.
The 2010 Supercars champion was appearing on a neighborhood Gold Coast news outlet to speak about his upcoming profession in property when he suddenly revealed his intention to retire from racing at the top of next season.
It seemed to be an ad for the agency he was joining, which operated in a region of Australia known for its real estate opportunities.
In an interview with Motorsport.com, the 44-year-old admitted that his comments were “100% coincidental”.
“I was talking about property and I let my guard down,” said Courtney, a Supercars regular since 2006 who has made 572 profession starts thus far.
“I didn't even think about car racing. It had nothing to do with racing.”
James Courtney, Blanchard Racing Team, Ford Mustang GT
Photo: Edge Photographics
The Blanchard Racing Team Ford Mustang driver didn’t think much of it until the day of the newscast, when his phone received a text message from longtime manager and mentor Alan Gow.
“The next morning I woke up and got a really nice message from Gow,” Courtney said.
“I said, ‘Why did you retire yesterday, you idiot?’ I wrote to him and explained that I wasn’t retiring, I used to be just doing an interview about real estate and constructing it for the afterlife.
“He said, ‘Did you even watch the movie?’ I watched it and I believed, ‘Oh my God!'
“I said, 'Don't worry, no one's going to take it.' So he went to bed and the following morning he sent me a couple of thousand articles and said, 'It's even in Autosport!'
“This was 100% a mistake. It was always supposed to be about planning, but I leaked it in a local real estate story. But if anyone is looking [for real estate]”I’m your man…”
Courtney has achieved his best results of the season to this point, sixth place. He signed up for Perth in May, joining BRT from Tickford Racing.
The last of his fifteen victories on this category got here in 2016 in Adelaide, where he raced for the Walkinshaw Racing Team.
