Courtney puts form slump to bed 

Source: PhotosportJames Courtney

Ford driver James Courtney ended his 2009 V8 Supercar run of disappointments with victory in race two of the Townsville 400 on Sunday.

The win is Courtney's first with Dick Johnson Racing and comes after the setback of Saturday's race where the Gold Coast resident was forced to retire when leading early in the race.

It ends a horror run for Courtney and will give him a big boost after he held off championship leader Jamie Whincup for most of the race, relegating the TeamVodafone star to second place.

Courtney grabbed the lead when coming out of the pits ahead of Whincup during a safety car period midway through the 72-lap race of the 2.87km street circuit.

From there he never looked back, despite the safety car coming out again late in the race.

"It's been a fantastic job by the team, we had bad luck yesterday so it's good to reward all the guys," Courtney said.

Whincup's second placing extends his championship lead, but not by much with Holden Racing Team rivals Garth Tander and Will Davison finishing third and fourth respectively.

Courtney's teammate Steven Johnson overcame illness to make it a big day for the team with a fifth placed finish.

Ford duo Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom finished inside the top ten to also keep the pressure on Whincup.

It was a bad day however for both Stone Brothers Racing cars and the Jack Daniels team, with each team suffering a double retirement in the race.