Steven James Richards (born 11 July 1972) is a New Zealand-Australian racing driver, currently competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship. Richards, the son of seven-time

Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most re ...

winner Jim Richards, is himself a five-time Bathurst 1000 winner, having won the event in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

. Colloquially known as 'Richo', he also won the Bathurst 24 Hour in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

Career history

Early career

Richards' first major career success was winning the

Australian Formula Ford Championship The Australian Formula Ford Championship is an Australian motor racing competition for drivers of Formula Ford racing cars, held annually since 1970. From 1970 until 1992 it was a national series and from 1993 until 2013 the series was sanctione ...

on his second attempt in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

for Garry Rogers Motorsport. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, Richards made his debut in the Bathurst 1000, finishing fourth for

Gibson Motorsport Gibson Motorsport was an Australia, Australian motor racing team that competed in the Australian Touring Car Championship from 1981 until 2003, though the team had its roots in Gibson's "Road & Track" team which ran a series of Ford Falcon GT, F ...

with

Anders Olofsson Anders Olofsson (31 March 1952 – 22 January 2008) was a Swedish racing driver. Racing career He won back-to-back Swedish Formula Three titles in 1977 and 1978 and finished runner-up in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship in the same seasons ...

. Richards continued his association with Garry Rogers Motorsport in the years following, competing in the Australian Super Touring Championship from

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

driving an Alfa Romeo 155, Honda Accord and

Nissan Primera The is a large family car which was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan from 1990 to 2007, for the markets in Japan and Europe. In Japan, it replaced the Auster/Stanza, and was exclusive to '' Nissan Prince Store'' locations. In North ...

and making his

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the trop ...

debut for the team in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

in a Holden VR Commodore. Richards competed with his father Jim at the Bathurst 1000 in

and

, finishing second in the latter. Richards continued with the team for

before leaving to take up a testing role with Nissan in England. At the 1998 AMP Bathurst 1000 Richards finished second in a Nissan Primera, only two seconds behind his father Jim. A month later driving a Ford EL Falcon, he won the FAI 1000 with Jason Bright for

Stone Brothers Racing Stone Brothers Racing (SBR) was an Australian motor racing team that competed in the International V8 Supercars Championship between 1998 and 2012. The team was formed in 1998 when Ross and Jim Stone bought Alan Jones's shares in Alan Jon ...

Supercars Championship

Richards took up a full-time drive with Gibson Motorsport in 1999, as a team-mate to

Greg Murphy Gregory Murphy (born 23 August 1972) is a New Zealand professional racing driver, best known as a four-time winner of the Bathurst 1000. Greg Murphy joined Jeremy Clarkson and James May presenting Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear Live, when ...

in a

Holden VT Commodore The Holden Commodore (VT) is an executive car that was produced by Holden from 1997 to 2000. It was the first iteration of the third generation of the Commodore and the last one to be powered by a locally made V8 engine (1998). Its range incl ...

. Richards finished seventh in the championship with the highlight being defending his Bathurst crown with Murphy. By winning his second Bathurst title in a Holden, he became the first driver to win the Bathurst 1000 in both a Ford and Holden, and remains the only driver to do so in consecutive years. Richards continued with Gibson Motorsport in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, winning the inaugural

Canberra 400 The Canberra 400 was a V8 Supercars event on the Canberra Street Circuit in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The race only had a short life, running from 2000 to 2002 over the Queen's Birthday holiday weekend in June. Back ...

as well as a round at Calder Park Raceway. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, Richards moved to Ford Tickford Racing. Richards finished 12th in the standings for the team in 2001. With Ford Tickford Racing scaling back to one car, Richards moved to Perkins Engineering in

. He continued with the team for five years and achieved consistent championship finishes between fifth and seventh. Richards won two rounds for the team, both at the Perth 400 at Barbagallo Raceway. Steven Richards FPR Ford FG Falcon

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

, Richards made another manufacturer switch, joining Ford Performance Racing. Richards started competitively for the team, with championship finishes of seventh and eighth, but dropped off in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

with finishes of thirteenth and fifteenth. Richards was subsequently replaced by

Will Davison William 'THE SOOK' Davison (born 30 August 1982) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently drives the No.17 Ford Mustang GT for Dick Johnson Racing in the Repco Supercars Championship. Davison is a two-time winner of the Bathu ...

for 2011, and finished his full-time career with a podium in the final race of the season at the Sydney 500. Richards' highlights for the team were winning the

Skycity Triple Crown The Darwin Triple Crown (formally known as the Betr Darwin Triple Crown) is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, Northern Territory. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championshi ...

in 2008, and podium finishes at the 2007 Sandown 500 and 2009 Phillip Island 500 with

Owen Kelly Owen Kelly (born 12 March 1977) is an Australian professional racing driver. Son of Chas Kelly, he has competed over the course of his career in V8 Supercars and NASCAR among other series. Racing career Kelly started his circuit racing career ...

and

Mark Winterbottom Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom (born 20 May 1981) is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning th ...

respectively. Richards and Winterbottom were leading the

2007 Bathurst 1000 The 2007 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was an endurance race for V8 Supercars, held on 7 October 2007 at the Mount Panorama Circuit near Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the tenth round of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship Serie ...

late in the race before Winterbottom went off the track in wet conditions.

Endurance co-driver

Following his full-time career ending, Richards became a highly sought-after co-driver for V8 Supercars' two endurance events, the

Sandown 500 The Sandown 500 (formally known as the Penrite Oil Sandown 500) is an annual endurance motor race which is staged at the Sandown Raceway, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from 1964. The event's name, distance – and the category of cars c ...

and Bathurst 1000. He decided to stay on with Ford Performance Racing, renewing his partnership with Winterbottom. In 2013, Richards and Winterbottom won the 2013 Bathurst 1000 on their sixth attempt together. It was the first Bathurst victory for Winterbottom and the team, and Richards' first since 1999. After his success in 2013, Richards was poached by

Triple Eight Race Engineering Triple Eight Race Engineering, (branded as Red Bull Ampol Racing) is an Australian motor racing team competing in the Supercars Championship. The team has been the only Brisbane based V8 Supercar team since its formation, originally operating ...

to drive with

Craig Lowndes Craig Andrew Lowndes (born 21 June 1974) is an Australian racing driver in the Repco Supercars Championship competing in the Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He is also a TV commentator. Lowndes is a three-time V8 Su ...

from 2014 onwards in what had become known as the Pirtek Enduro Cup. The move brought Richards a fourth Bathurst victory in

. In doing this Richards joined Lowndes, who along with

Tony Longhurst Anthony Lawrence Longhurst (born 1 October 1957 in Sydney) is an Australian racing driver and former Australian Champion water skier. He is most noted for his career in the Australian Touring Car Championship and V8 Supercar series. Longhurst is ...

and

Jamie Whincup Jamie Whincup (born 6 February 1983) is an Australian professional racing driver competing in the Supercars Championship. He currently is team principal for Triple Eight Race Engineering. He has driven the No. 88 Holden ZB Commodore, won a reco ...

had matched the feat of winning in both a Ford and Holden since Richards had achieved it, as the only two drivers to win more than one Bathurst 1000 for both Ford and Holden. Richards won the race again with Lowndes in 2018 winning his Fifth Bathurst crown becoming one of the most successful winners of the great race throughout the current decade and sixth on the all-time list of Bathurst champions. Richards announced his retirement from Supercars racing after the 2019 season.

Endurance racing

Richards won the inaugural Bathurst 24 Hour race in

driving a Holden Monaro 427C for Garry Rogers Motorsport. Richards won the race alongside

Garth Tander Garth Tander (born 31 March 1977) is a multiple-championship winning Australian motor racing driver competing in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship's Enduro Cup, co-driving the No. 97 Holden ZB Commodore for Triple Eight Race Engine ...

Cameron McConville Cameron 'Conkers' McConville (born 22 January 1974) is an Australian racing driver and motorsport celebrity. While retired from full-time competition, McConville still races occasionally and is an in-demand endurance event co-driver. McConville ...

and

Nathan Pretty Nathan Pretty (born 7 July 1973) is an Australian racecar driver. Career He first rose to prominence racing AUSCAR Superspeedway sedans (a Holden Commodore), becoming rookie of the year in his initial season in 1994. His family based race te ...

. Driving the same car in the 2003 race, the same quartet finished in second place, less than a second behind their teammates Greg Murphy,

Todd Kelly Todd Kelly (born 9 October 1979) is a retired Australian professional racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He is the older brother of fellow Supercars driver and former Bathurst 1000 winner, Rick Kelly. ...

, Jason Bright, and

Peter Brock Peter Geoffrey Brock (26 February 1945 – 8 September 2006), known as "Peter Perfect", "The King of the Mountain", or simply "Brocky", was an Australian motor racing driver. Brock was most often associated with Holden for almost 40 years, a ...

, who had formed a famous partnership with his father Jim in the 1970s and 1980s. Richards competed in the 2014 24 Hours of Spa with Roger Lago, David Russell and Steve Owen, driving a Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ GT3. They did not finish the race. Richards has also achieved a class victory at the

Bathurst 12 Hour The Bathurst 12 Hour, currently known as the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour for sponsorship reasons, is an annual endurance race for GT and production cars held at the Mount Panorama Circuit, in Bathurst, Australia. The race was first held in 19 ...

, in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Carrera Cup

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 997 of Steven Richards (2013)

After the conclusion of his full-time V8 Supercars career, Richards entered the

Australian Carrera Cup Championship Porsche Carrera Cup Australia (known commercially as the Porsche Paynter Dixon Carrera Cup Australia) is an Australian motor racing series open to Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. First held in 2003, it is administered by Porsche Cars Australia Pty Lt ...

in 2011 in a team backed by Laser Plumbing & Electrical. He consistently became a top-five championship runner since joining the series. His highlight was in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

when he won the championship title and broke the stranglehold on the series held by

Craig Baird Craig George Baird (born 22 July 1970) is a New Zealand former racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has e ...

. It was Richards' first championship title in twenty years. Richards slipped back in the following two years before stepping back from the series to focus on his team's entry in the

Australian GT Championship The Australian GT Championship is a CAMS-sanctioned national title for drivers of GT cars, held annually from 1960 to 1963, from 1982 to 1985 and from 2005. Each championship up to and including the 1963 title was contested over a single race a ...

Australian GT

In 2013 and 2014, Richards competed in selected events of the

in a

Lamborghini Gallardo The Lamborghini Gallardo (; ) is a sports car built by the Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini from 2003 to 2013. It is Lamborghini's second car released under parent company Audi, and List of best-selling automobiles, best-selling model ...

alongside Justin McMillan. They finished fifth in the 2014 championship. Richards then made a one-off appearance in the 2015 season in a

Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro sh ...

. In 2016, Richards re-joined the series full-time, this time with his own team, Steven Richards Motorsport. The team became the factory-supported customer entrant for the new BMW M6 GT3 in Australia. The team has also entered two cars in the 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour.

Personal life

Before taking up motor racing full-time, Richards served his

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

as an aircraft engineer. Richards is married to Angela (m. 1998) and has two children, Clayton (born 2000) and Priya (born 2001). Richards lives with his family in Melbourne, Victoria.

Career results

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991 of Steven Richards

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup Type 991 of Steven Richards (2016)

Supercars Championship results

(Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Bathurst 1000 results

Super Touring Super Touring, Class 2 or Class II was a motor racing Touring Cars category defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for national touring car racing in 1993. It was based on the "2 litre Touring Car Formula" created ...

race

Complete Australian Carrera Cup Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (ma ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point awarded)

Complete Bathurst 24 Hour results

Complete Bathurst 12 Hour results

References

External links

Official Website of Steven Richards

Official Laser Racing Porsche Carrera Cup Team Website

V8 Supercars Official Profile

Driver Database stats

Profile on Racing Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Steven 1972 births New Zealand racing drivers Supercars Championship drivers Living people Bathurst 1000 winners Formula Ford drivers Australian Touring Car Championship drivers Sportspeople from Auckland V8SuperTourer drivers Blancpain Endurance Series drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Australian Endurance Championship drivers Garry Rogers Motorsport drivers BMW M drivers