Richie Stanaway has come away rejuvenated after experiencing his first event with Triple Eight Race Engineering at the 2023 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 hour.
The 31-year-old finished tenth in the Bathurst 12 Hour co-driving Triple Eight’s #99 Boost Mobile Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Prince Jefri Ibrahim and Jamie Whincup. It earned the trio third in the Pro-Am class.
“It’s been a few years since I’ve been on a podium, actually; I forgot what it was like,” Stanaway told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s probably the best team I’ve ever worked in; the stuff I learned, it has been an extremely valuable experience to be on the inside of a team like this.”
That’s high praise given Stanaway’s background, which includes a factory Aston Martin drive as well as racing for Erebus Motorsport at last year’s Bathurst 1000, where he finished 11th with Greg Murphy.
That race was his first time competing in a Supercar since departing Garry Rogers at the end of the 2019 season, having also completed a full-time campaign at Tickford the previous season.
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“It’s not that I’m surprised, because obviously, you don’t walk into a team that’s successful and not expect things to be executed as well as they are … The operation of the team is very impressive. So it’s, for me, just a huge privilege to be a part of it,” said Stanaway.
The Kiwi made the most of the three-day event to get his bearings with the team, a useful precursor to his Supercars enduro co-drive with Shane van Gisbergen, with whom he’ll share the #97 Red Bull Ampol Racing Chevrolet Camaro for the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.
Triple Principal Jamie Whincup heaped praise on Stanaway’s performance both in and out of the car throughout the Bathurst event.
“He did a great job; he’s very professional,” Whincup told Speedcafe.com. “His speed is unquestioned and has always been unquestioned.”
“He’s extremely quick and it was a great opportunity for him to work with Triple Eight.”
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