Motorsport: HRT out to honour Brock on 10 year anniversary

Peter Brock of the Holden Racing Team prepares for the Bathurst 1000 in 2004. Photo / Getty Images

Holden's flagship team is out to honour the motoring brand's greatest champion at this year's Bathurst 1000 Supercars race.

Peter Brock and the Red Lion became synonymous during his record nine Bathurst victories.

Now Holden Racing Team (HRT) is out to overcome a troubled year by securing the Peter Brock Cup at Mount Panorama 10 years after his death during a Western Australian rally in 2006.

HRT driver James Courtney - who has never won at Bathurst in his long Supercars career - says delivering the treasured trophy for the third time to the factory outfit would be a moment he'd never forget.

"It's an event we normally step up and perform really quite well at," Courtney told AAP.

"If we could win the Peter Brock Trophy this year from a year that has been - from a team point of view - not what we want, it would definitely put some icing on a pretty shitty cake."

The 2010 Supercars champion missed last year's Bathurst race after a pit-lane accident at Sydney Motorsport Park sidelined him for several weeks.

Courtney recently underwent an operation on the Gold Coast to burn nerves near his ribs and spine in a bid to bring pain from that accident under control.

The 36-year-old says he's recovering well and looks forward to honouring the memory of Brock, a driver who was a mentor to many of the current field, including Courtney.

"Amazing character, gave me a lot of advice along the way," Courtney said of the man known as the King of the Mountain.

"It's pretty special they've named the trophy after him. Ten years this year and seems like it was only yesterday."