Jim Richards may be one of the oldest drivers in the race but he will be one of the favourites to win the Bathurst 1000 V8 Supercar classic on Sunday.
The 55-year-old expatriate Kiwi has been paired by the Holden Racing Team with Supercar champion Mark Skaife for the 1000km event.
Richards and Skaife combined to win the 1991 and 1992 races in a Nissan Skyline and Richards also has four other victories over Mt Panorama to his credit.
In 1992, Richards famously berated the crowd after they booed him because the Skyline was declared the winner despite being off the track as a violent storm stopped the race.
"It will be great being with Jimmy again," Skaife said. "We've done a lot of racing together and I'm tipping if we're fortunate to win once more, the reception this time will be a little different to the one back in 1992."
Richards said that on paper, he could not have a better chance of another victory, driving with the champion for the champion team in the car which has dominated the series this year.
At 55, and racing fit through his regular appearances in GT cars, Richards is a few years younger than nine-times Bathurst winner Peter Brock, who is making a comeback appearance alongside New Zealander Craig Baird.
The over-50s are well represented in the race. Larry Perkins (six times a winner) will share one of his Commodores with Paul Dumbrell; Allan Grice (winner in 1986 and 1990) will share a Ford Falcon with Ross Halliday; and Alan Jones, world Formula One champion in 1980, will drive a Falcon with Greg Ritter.
* * *
Jason Richards will be very disappointed if Team Kiwi cannot finish in the top 10 at the Bathurst 1000.
After achieving several goals during the season in the team's Holden Commodore, he is delighted to be teaming up with fellow New Zealander Simon Wills for the race. The two first met in competition in Formula Fords at a Wellington street race and are good friends.
"Team Kiwi have been 16th in the past two races and that was good, but we must aim higher and with Simon we will have two drivers with experience of the circuit and that is a big help," Richards said.
"It means there is no issue about driving time during the race and we can be fully committed to qualifying the car instead of having to fit in learning time for a second driver."
Wills comes to the team fresh from victory in the Queensland 500, where he profited from the bad luck of another Kiwi, Greg Murphy.
For Murphy, Bathurst is a chance for redemption. He has a mathematical chance of overtaking Mark Skaife for the championship, but his season has been one disappointment after another.
He has an impressive record at Bathurst. He won the race in 1996 and 1999 and has been on the podium every time he has finished. He will share a Kmart Commodore with Todd Kelly.
Paul Radisich has yet to win at Bathurst and the season's record of the Dick Johnson Falcons would appear to put him out of contention this time. But the New Zealander took heart from an improved performance at the Queensland 500 and his combination with Steve Johnson is a strong one.
Among the other New Zealanders in the 40-strong field of 21 Fords and 19 Holdens will be long-time expatriates Steve Richards and John Faulkner, and rookie Aucklander Mark Porter.
* * *
Simon Wills will be driving for a new Adelaide-based team in next year's Australian Supercar championship.
Team Dynamic has been formed by his father, Kieran, and Adelaide businessman Malcolm Ramsay, who founded the Birrana team in Formula Holden.
Team Dynamic will have two Holden Commodores. The second driver has not been named.
* * *
Skodas old and new came together at the shakedown for Rally New Zealand near Helensville.
Parked in the service area near the latest Octavia world rally cars was the 1972 S 120 S in which Laurie Evans and Colin Waite finished 24th in the rally that year.
The car, a works model of which only four made it to NZ, competed in several of the international events, including the 1973 rally which completed a tour of both islands.
Over the past 18 months Waite has restored it from a rusting shell and it is painted in the green colours that the Czech manufacturer still uses.
* * *
Warren Laugesen, of Napier, won the open solo championship at the Australian observed motorcycle trials in the Barossa Valley at the weekend.
Laugesen was riding a Scorpa.
Andrew Poad from Tauranga was seventh and Jason Baker from Blenheim 11th.
<i>Pitstop:</i> V8 veterans will be force at Bathurst
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.