Jason Richards

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Jason Richards (born April 10, 1976 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a V8 Supercar racecar driver.

[edit] Early career

Richards started his motor racing career at the age of eight in 1985, driving in karting events in his home country of New Zealand. He made his move out of karting in 1993 after 35 championship titles, entering the Mini 7s.

After much success again, Richards was offered the Canterbury Racing School Formula Ford drive for the Nissan Mobil 500 meetings at Wellington and Pukekohe.

After a short stint in the English Formula Ford Championship, Richards returned to New Zealand to sign with BMW Motorsport NZ as junior driver, winning the 1995/96 Class 1 Touring Car Championships for the team, along with nine out of 12 series races.

[edit] V8 Supercars

Promoted to lead driver, Richards won the next three NZ Touring Car Championships prior to joining Team Kiwi for the V8 Supercar series in Australia in 2001. Battling testing restrictions and the tyranny of distance, Richards finished an extremely creditable 19th in the 2002 V8 Supercar Series.

Richards moved to the new South Australian Team Dynamik in 2003, putting in some strong results, including a narrow failure to snatch victory in the Sandown 500 from Mark Skaife in the race's dying stages.

He then made the decision to move to the newly-formed Tasman Motorsport outfit in 2004 and has developed into a driver who believes he is capable of standing on the top step of a V8 Supercar podium.

Coming back from a major roll over in the 2005 round at Queensland Raceway,^[1] Richards quickly returned to stride and promptly placed the repaired Commodore into the top 10 in the following round at Oran Park Raceway.

His podium results in the Sandown and Bathurst endurance events in 2005 helped cement his place as a ‘coming man’ of the V8 Supercar category and he returns in 2006 for his third season with the Melbourne-based team.^[2]

[edit] 2007

Jason races the #3 Tasman Motorsport VE Commodore for 2007. He had a significant shunt on Friday at Barbagallo, running into a slowing Jason Bright. His car was repaired overnight, and he was able to participate in qualifying.

[edit] Career highlights

• Winner, New Zealand Touring Cars Championship 1998/99, 2000/01
• 11th, Bob Jane T-Marts 1000 at Mount Panorama Circuit 2002
• 5th, Oran Park V8 Supercar round 2003
• 3rd, Betta Electrical Sandown 500 2005
• 2nd, Supercheap Auto 1000 at Bathurst 2005
• Winner, Winton Motor Raceway, RD.5 Race 2, V8SA 2006

[edit] Championship Results

• 2000 Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore VT 52nd
• 2001 Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore VX 24th
• 2002 Team Kiwi Racing Holden Commodore VX 19th
• 2003 Team Dynamik Holden Commodore VY 26th
• 2004 Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore VX/VY 14th
• 2005 Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore VZ 17th
• 2006 Tasman Motorsport Holden Commodore VZ 18th

[edit] Bathurst 1000 Stats

• Debut: 1997 (BMW 320i with Brett Riley)
• Starts: 8 (including 2 Super Touring)
• Best Result: 2nd (2005, Holden Commodore VZ with Jamie Whincup)

[edit] References

1. ^ "Jason Richards crashes", The Age, 2005-07-25. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.
2. ^ Jason Richards. V8 Supercars Australia. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.