Dane on Richards: Clearly we want to win Bathurst

Steven Richards won the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with Mark Winterbottom this year at Ford Performance Racing, ahead of both Red Bull Racing pairings. But next season the three-time winner will line up with Craig Lowndes for the PIRTEK Enduro Cup and not his long-time team.

The rivalry between Lowndes and Winterbottom and FPR has gotten more heated with each lap in the closing races of the season. But Lowndes has had the last laugh, having finished ahead of him in the Championship, and now nabbing his long-time racing partner.

For team boss Roland Dane it's not about history between the two. It's about the strongest combination possible. 

“Clearly, we want to win Bathurst,” Dane told v8supercars.com.au.

“We’ve won it five times in 10 years and we want to carry on being in a position – putting ourselves in the position – to do well there every time.”

The heated quips between Dane and FPR team boss Tim Edwards have enthralled fans this season, and the signing of Richards is sure to shake things up.

“There’s certainly a very intense rivalry between the teams, but there always has been,” Dane said. 

“It’s been going on for 10 years so there’s nothing new there, we’re meant to be rivals! We’re not all meant to be mates, this is intense sport and it’s not about making friends it’s about winning… At the end of the day our job is to win races and try and be in the hunt to win Championships, so we fully expect and aim to carry on doing that.”

Dane explained the team had been considering co-drivers since the conclusion of the PIRTEK Enduro Cup. Lowndes won the enduro battle with Warren Luff – though Luff announced on social media earlier in the week the team was looking to the future and making longer term plans. 

Despite have tried to complete a deal with Richards on a few occasions, it has not come to fruition for Dane until now.

“We’ve known Steven Richards for probably 16 years or so – we’ve tried to do a deal once or twice in the past and never managed to do it and then this time we have, so we’re very happy about that,” Dane said.

“It’s about – at all three enduro races – having the strongest possible combination and continuity over a period of time.

“Richo’s got a very good track record there and he’s driving continually, always doing event and things away from that environment as well.”

Was this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 one that got away?

“Certainly we were in a position to win it but we didn’t. At the end of the day, on the day, the other guys did a better job than we did and they deserved victory there.

“But clearly we’d like it back.”

Richards – who has been with Ford Performance Racing the past seven years, as a full-time driver, and co-driver for the last three enduros – is a three-time winner at Mount Panorama, having stood on the top step in 1998, 1999 and 2012.

All three wins have been with different co-drivers in Jason Bright, Greg Murphy and Winterbottom; different teams, with Stone Brothers Racing, Gibson Motor Sport and FPR; and in both Ford and Holden makes.

Paul Dumbrell will continue to drive with Jamie Whincup, though he had been in doubt for the 2014 season.