KEY POINTS:
Could a Kiwi emerge from the usual pre-season roar of Holden-Ford claim and counter-claim as champion of the Australian V8 Supercar series?
The last New Zealand passport-holder to take the premier prize in Australian motorsport was expatriate Jim Richards in 1991 in a Nissan Skyline before the big
two manufacturers turned the contest into a closed shop.
And this year the leading contender for a New Zealand victory is his 34-year-old son, Steven, who was born in Auckland and is happy to be known as a New Zealander - even if the Australians claim him as their own when he does well.
When Paul Radisich returns to fulltime driving for Team Kiwi, probably at Pukekohe in April, there will be five New Zealand drivers competing regularly in the Supercar championship.
Greg Murphy has joined Jason Richards in the Tasman Motorsport Holden team, part-owned by his father. Steven Richards has shifted from Larry Perkins' Holden team to join Ford Performance Racing and young Aucklander Fabian Coulthard will drive a Holden for Paul Morris.
For a while it looked as if defending champion Rick Kelly and his teammate, Garth Tander, in the Holden HSV team would be watching next weekend's Adelaide races from the stands. Not for the first time there were allegations that the ownership of the team and the long-established Holden Racing Team was too intertwined to comply with the rules.
The villain of the piece was supposed to be Scottish millionaire Tom Walkinshaw, whose tentacles were alleged to control both outfits. Paperwork was produced to dispel the allegations and Holden's prime prospects will be on the grid next Saturday.
Kelly won the title thanks to a dubious manoeuvre that gave him the edge over Ford's Craig Lowndes in the final race of last season. Nobody in the Ford camp has forgotten that.
Official test sessions have seen Holden teams debuting their VE Commodores and Fords often topping the times.
Steven Richards was very fast on the first day of testing at Winton and his teammate, Mark Winterbottom, was quickest on the second day.
"It has been a good two days," said Richards. "We have discovered some ergonomic issues with my car that we will address, but aside from those it was a very productive and encouraging two-day test.
"The team has developed two fast and reliable cars ahead of the start of the season and we couldn't be better prepared."
Richards has been competing since 1996 and he has been one of the most consistent drivers while not winning a championship. He has twice won the Bathurst 1000 and been second three times.
Murphy and Jason Richards were talking top-10 rather than titles when they launched their new partnership. Last season was promising for Richards while Murphy had the worst of his career after a car-destroying crash at Adelaide.
Team Kiwi were also talking top-10 after their switch from Holden to Ford but the upset caused by Radisich's continuing problems with the ankle he injured at Bathurst has not helped their cause.
Coulthard, who had partial use of a Paul Morris Holden last season, will race for the full season this time and he will have to learn the tracks where he has not competed before.
