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 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 ...

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 shootin ...

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 fact ...

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 Apri ...

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 East Timor independence, indepe ...

Career history

Early career

Richards' first major career success was winning the Australian Formula Ford Championship 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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

for Garry Rogers Motorsport. In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, Richards made his debut in the Bathurst 1000, finishing fourth for Gibson Motorsport 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 t ...

driving an Alfa Romeo 155, Honda Accord and Nissan Primera and making his Australian Touring Car Championship debut for the team in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

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 , trade name, trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells ...

in England. At the

1998 AMP Bathurst 1000 The 1998 AMP Bathurst 1000 was the 40th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 4 October 1998 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. It was the second year of the controversial split between race organise ...

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 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 recen ...

with

Jason Bright Jason Bright (born 7 March 1973) is a retired Australian racing driver who competed in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship. He drove the No. 56 Ford FG X Falcon for Britek Motorsport, a satellite team of Prodrive Racing Australia, be ...

for Stone Brothers Racing.

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 Live, when it had its first internati ...

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 inclu ...

. 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 Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...

, 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 Calder Park Raceway is a motor racing circuit in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The complex includes a dragstrip, a road circuit with several possible configurations, and the "Thunderdome", a high-speed banked oval equipped to race either clo ...

. In

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

, 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 The Perth SuperSprint is an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at Wanneroo Raceway in Wanneroo, Western Australia. The event has been a regular part of the Supercars Championship and its predecessor, the Australian Touring Car Champi ...

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 of Pakistan, Pr ...

, 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 for

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, and finished his full-time career with a podium in the final race of the season at the

Sydney 500 The Sydney 500 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Coates Hire Sydney 500) was an annual motor racing event for Supercars, held at the Homebush Street Circuit in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales, Australia. The event was a regular part ...

. 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 The 2007 Just Car Insurance 500 was an endurance motor race for V8 Supercars, held on the weekend of the 14 to 16 September at the Sandown International Raceway in Victoria, Australia. The race, which was the 40th Sandown 500, was the ninth round ...

and

2009 Phillip Island 500 The 2009 Phillip Island 500K, L&H 500 was the Race 17 of the 2009 V8 Supercar Championship Series. It was held on the weekend of 11 to 13 September at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. This was t ...

with Owen Kelly and Mark Winterbottom 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 Series ...

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 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 The 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 was an Australian touring car motor race for V8 Supercars, the twenty-ninth race of the 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship. It was held on 13 October 2013 at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurs ...

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 to drive with Craig Lowndes from 2014 onwards in what had become known as the

Pirtek Enduro Cup The Enduro Cup (formally known as the Pirtek Enduro Cup for sponsorship reasons), was an award given out to the highest points scorers over the three endurance events in Supercars Championship, Supercars; the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000 and the Gol ...

. The move brought Richards a fourth Bathurst victory in

. In doing this Richards joined Lowndes, who along with Tony Longhurst and Jamie Whincup 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 Engineer ...

, Cameron McConville and Nathan Pretty. 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, 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, al ...

, who had formed a famous partnership with his father Jim in the 1970s and 1980s. Richards competed in the

2014 24 Hours of Spa The 2014 Total 24 Hours of Spa was the 66th running of the 24 Hours of Spa. It was also the fourth round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series season and was held on 26 and 27 July at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium. The race was won by ...

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 ...

, 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 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. 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.

Australian GT

In 2013 and 2014, Richards competed in selected events of the Australian GT Championship in a Lamborghini Gallardo 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. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, 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 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 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 (map ...

) (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