Jason Richards has finished runner-up at the Bathurst 1000 three times in the past five years. It’s a statistic that he is fed up with and wants to improve on – and he says he can do it with new team-mate Andrew Jones.
Team BOC confirmed this week that Richards will be partnered by Jones in the #8 Brad Jones Racing Commodore VE, while the other BJR car (#14 Trading Post Racing) of Jason Bright will be shared by Matthew Halliday.
‘JR’ says that he’s taking a win or bust approach to this October’s ‘Great Race.’
“Nothing less than a win will do,” he said.
“I’ve been second too many times. I’ve done everything I needed to do except actually cross the line first and that’s my only aim this year.
“Bathurst is by far my most successful race consistently, it’s the team’s most successful race consistently and I’ve got the added advantage of having Andy as a team-mate, who has that much more experience than the rest of the endurance drivers.”
Richards has been critical of the new-for-2010 endurance driving restrictions (where regular V8 drivers are forbidden to pair up), although he admits he has got himself a competent partner.
“In terms of the format change, we’re mucking around with tradition here,” he said.
“At no point in the history of Bathurst were you prevented from picking your team-mate as co-driver. You can’t tell me that it hasn’t been exciting racing in the past and I don’t think this new format is going to add much to it.
“With this new format, seat-time is the most important thing in a co-driver because the reality is there are only a couple of guys around with much main-game experience. I’m very fortunate that Andy’s one of them. He’s driven my car already this year and raced for BJR not so long ago so he’s fully up to speed.
Jones acknowledges that he has a genuine chance of victory at the two V8 enduros this year.
“All the development work being done now by Jason Richards and Bright is groundwork looking at the long road ahead,” he said.
“Hopefully by September/October, we’ll have a couple of rocket ships! I definitely think I’m in a terrific position. I’ve got a real chance of winning the race.”
For more on the Bright/Halliday pairing CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com.au’s past news article
