![\"Courtney\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-Supercheap-Auto-Wildcard-Launch-Z81_2363.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Courtney has a special connection to Team 18’s wildcard. Image: Richard Gresham<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Courtney has a special connection to Team 18’s wildcard. Image: Richard Gresham<\/p>\n
Courtney and Hall will be part of Team 18\u2019s three-pronged enduro attack this season, the former as David Reynolds\u2019 co-driver<\/a> and the latter in the Supercheap Auto wildcard alongside Craig Lowndes<\/a>.<\/p>\n While both are new to Team 18, they arrive with a long-standing connection that started in a Gold Coast driveway, rather than at a race track.<\/p>\n When Courtney returned from his overseas sojourn to race Supercars in the mid-2000s he found himself living next to the Hall family in Hope Island.<\/p>\n He quickly struck up a friendship with Bayley\u2019s father Roy, one that continues to this day.<\/p>\n \u201cRoy originally worked with my uncle and when he came to visit me at home he introduced me to Roy, who was living across the road,\u201d Courtney explained to Speedcafe.<\/p>\n \u201cBayley and [sister] Shayla were just babies at the time. Roy and I were a lot younger than we are now so we\u2019d get together and drink all the time.<\/p>\n \u201cThen they moved, and then we moved near them again. So we\u2019ve been in the same street for the last 20-odd years.\u201d<\/p>\n At that time Hall Sr, who works in finance and insurance, had little idea how to run a go-kart for his son \u2013 and was appreciative of help and advice from Courtney.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to work on the go-kart in the driveway and I\u2019m a financial planner by trade so I had no idea what I was doing.<\/p>\n \u201cJames would drive past my house and just have a giggle because there I am with a go-kart and I\u2019m trying to get ready to go racing, wearing a suit and tie.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I\u2019d pick Bayley up from school, the go-kart on the back, and we\u2019d go to Toowoomba or Warwick or wherever.<\/p>\n \u201cJames would always come over with a smile and give us a bit of inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n Two decades later and Hall Jr is an accomplished Porsche driver who is now making the switch to Supercars via both the Supercheap Auto wildcard program and a Super2 drive with Eggleston Motorsport.<\/p>\n And with that family connection, there is a unique significance to the fact that Courtney and Hall will be teammates in Supercars this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cool, it\u2019s great for [the family],\u201d added Courtney.<\/p>\n \u201cIt brings back all those memories from when I first made it and got my big break. You have all of that emotion come back.<\/p>\n \u201cIt might not be the same level as when it\u2019s your own experience, but I can see it in Roy and [wife] Dee\u2019s faces, how emotional they are. I remember that moment for my parents.<\/p>\n \u201cSo it\u2019s pretty cool to be able to be part of that, there\u2019s not many times you get to see that through your career.<\/p>\n \u201cI know how emotional it will be for them when Bayley rolls out for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n Bayley Hall and Craig Lowndes at the Supercheap Auto wildcard livery launch. Image: Richard Gresham<\/p>\n Courtney is one of several friendly neighbourhood faces that have been pivotal in guiding the Hall\u2019s on Bayley\u2019s motorsport journey, including the likes of Ross Stone and Team 18 team principal Adrian Burgess.<\/p>\n \u201cI do all of the life insurance for the drivers, so we\u2019ve got to know a lot of people in the industry over time,\u201d said Roy Hall.<\/p>\n \u201cRoss Stone lived in our street and was always an advocate for young talent.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd Adrian as well. We\u2019re best mates with Adrian, he lives in Hope Island as well and we see him a lot.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been a really good mentor for Bayley, and us as a family, to choose the right direction.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went the Porsche way to start with, and all of the cars are much the same, so we didn\u2019t know with budgets and so on which team you go with in Super2.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously now we have this connection with Team 18 and Eggleston Motorsport for Bayley, which is amazing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got Richard Holway engineering the Super2 car and the main game car. That\u2019s going to give him continuity which is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![\"V8](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2026-Supercheap-Auto-Wildcard-Launch-Z81_2301.jpg\")
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