Latest / Rusty's Garage / The Motorsport Brief: Richie Stanaway on his full-time return to Supercars

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The Motorsport Brief: Richie Stanaway on his full-time return to Supercars · Rusty's Garage

• 0:02
  A listener production.
• 0:04
  Welcome to the Motorsport Brief.
• 0:06
  It's Thursday, the 24th of August, 2023.
• 0:08
  There is a serious, silly season, as we call it.
• 0:12
  Musical chairs happening in supercars with possibly the biggest amount of driver movement for 2024 that we've seen in a long time.
• 0:21
  Today, a comeback story.
• 0:24
  A wonderful yarn of a driver with a huge amount of talent who left disenchanted, but he is back with a team that's building.
• 0:32
  And he's ready to give his second coming everything he's got.
• 0:37
  G'day everybody, Greg Rust with you for this edition of the Rusty's Garage Shortcast.
• 0:41
  We have launched our bid for another 100 feature episodes after the recent milestone.
• 0:48
  A second ton, if you like.
• 0:49
  And it was Michael Caruso who helped us start that process.
• 0:53
  My old Speed Series TV colleague was in great form.
• 0:57
  From a special moment driving his dad's sports sedan.
• 1:01
  A lesser known story where he made the difficult decision...
• 1:04
  not to renew his race licence for a while when he couldn't see a future as a professional race driver.
• 1:11
  Plus, the fashion choice to try and impress Gary Rogers when he went for the big interview for a supercars drive full-time with GRM.
• 1:19
  Lots of fun in that, Chad.
• 1:21
  Today on the Shortcast, another piece of the puzzle as the supercar's grid for next season takes shape.
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  A driver who reminded us of his speed in a wildcard comeback at Bathurst with Greg Murphy last year.
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  Someone who we thought...
• 1:36
  was a front-running option for Shane Van Gisbergen's seat with Red Bull, is in fact heading for Grove Racing as a replacement for David Reynolds.
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  He kind of ended his first chapter in supercars disillusioned, went away, did some soul-searching, found the mojo again, and is reinvigorated and ready to get stuck in.
• 1:58
  Richie Stanaway, welcome to Rusty's Garage.
• 2:01
  Thank you.
• 2:01
  Thanks for having me on.
• 2:02
  Hey, this is fantastic news, mate.
• 2:05
  Can we rewind the clock a little bit here and just understand how you must feel right now because we had two cracks in COVID at trying to get that wildcard drive happening.
• 2:17
  Thankfully, it finally happened with Boost and Erebus and now here you are.
• 2:21
  You're going to be back as a full-time driver in 2024.
• 2:24
  Is there a bit of, you know, a moment where you've sat back and thought, yes, this is actually happening?
• 2:32
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:33
  I've worked really hard over the last couple of years to get to this point.
• 2:40
  So yeah, just really grateful that it's all sort of come together.
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  And I guess pretty proud of myself really for the work that I put in to get to a point where I feel confident enough to come back and race full time.
• 2:56
  Because yeah, it was no light task, that's for sure.
• 3:00
  Yeah, just really keen to see how we get on in the Enduros.
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  And then obviously just can't wait to crack on with Penright next year.
• 3:09
  I sense from the message that you and I had offline that you are ready to give this a really serious crack.
• 3:17
  Tell me about that and how motivated you are and so on.
• 3:20
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 3:21
  I just want to see what I'm capable of doing with the right group of people.
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  And I guess I've had a bit of a chance to reflect over what went wrong during my first two full seasons.
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  And at the start of either of those seasons, I never went into it.
• 3:41
  confident that we would be able to get results.
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  And that's very, very different this time.
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  So, yeah, I don't really know what it's like to, you know, go into a season with an organization that's preparing themselves to win.
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  So to come in as a driver in that environment is very new to me.
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  So, yeah, it's very exciting to – that prospect is very, very exciting.
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  And yeah, I feel like it's going to get the most out of me.
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  And yeah, I'll try to do my best to get the most out of the team as well.
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  And I'm just really excited to see what we can achieve together.
• 4:23
  Tell me a little bit, don't go too deep, mate, but obviously you've had to compartmentalise that first stint as Richie Stanaway in supercars.
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  And I can tell here that, as I said, that you're really pumped about this opportunity for Take 2 or Richie Stanaway Mark 2.
• 4:41
  How have you framed that whole period, mate?
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  Is it stuff that you know that you'll be different at and better at this time?
• 4:48
  To be honest, I feel like that first in was in another lifetime.
• 4:52
  Really?
• 4:53
  Yeah, it just feels so different as a person.
• 4:57
  And I think that's why I'm keen to come back and give it another crack.
• 5:02
  Fitness has obviously been a big part of that.
• 5:05
  How have you sort of prepared yourself beyond the car for this, mate?
• 5:11
  I mean, obviously you've had to get your mindset into a place where you're comfortable and ready to.
• 5:18
  Yeah, I mean, that's been a massive part of it for me.
• 5:21
  I was very committed to training when I was younger on a path towards F1 because, yeah, it's just well known that those cars are very physical.
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  And also, I always wanted to give myself an edge whenever it came to a decision between myself and another driver.
• 5:44
  So, yeah, we would go to training camps once every quarter and we would be given a fitness test.
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  If I knew I was going there with 20 other drivers, I wanted to either be the fittest or show that I had made the most improvement because I needed every edge that I possibly could get.
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  So I felt like I was very committed
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  in those younger years.
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  And then I think when I came to the realization that I wasn't going to make it to F1, it just really sort of knocked the wind out of my sails a bit when it came to the fitness training.
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  And then combining that with driving cars that aren't as physical as an F1 car, it was just, I guess, an easy opportunity for me to back off a bit.
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  And I probably took that a little bit too far
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  not realizing that, I guess, for the fitness, it's more about just the lifestyle and the type of person you need to be in order to be really fit.
• 6:51
  And that's kind of more what you need to line up with being a successful racing driver, not so much...
• 6:57
  you know if you're driving an f1 car or a touring car so i kind of overlooked that and um also coming back to do the wild card uh yeah when i stopped racing supercars in 2019 i wasn't in the best shape and then i also
• 7:17
  didn't really do anything for a couple of years.
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  So then when I initially got the call up to do the wildcard, there was just a massive gap in, I guess, my physical condition and where I needed to be for that wildcard.
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  And yeah, I mean, because when you're not driving a lot, you need to prepare a lot more and almost overcompensate because...
• 7:44
  just the stress levels are a bit higher when you, when you've not been racing a lot.
• 7:49
  So you need to overcompensate massively and yeah, I wanted to come back and do well.
• 7:56
  So I was very committed in the lead up to Bathurst and, um,
• 8:04
  It sort of, for me, I guess, reignited a passion for cycling and sort of got to a point where when I wasn't sure if I would ever race again, I almost sort of picked up cycling as a whole other sport on its own.
• 8:21
  I guess the two bikes in the background behind me are a bit of a giveaway.
• 8:25
  And then I sort of just headed down that path of almost using that sport to replace what I wasn't getting anymore from being a racing driver.
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  And then I feel like the physical and the mental strength that I've gained from that sport have just, I guess...
• 8:44
  put me into a place where I feel like almost over prepared when I go to a race now, which is, gives me a lot of confidence that, you know, I can now go to a race and feel like I'm really prepared.
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  And that's obviously not something I ever had in my, in my earliest in supercars.
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  How much did you think about the offer when Peter Adderton called and take us back to that moment where the wild card was put on the table in front of you and on your first reaction.
• 9:10
  Initially I, I,
• 9:13
  wasn't that keen because I was pretty determined to just obviously step away from the sport altogether and not come back.
• 9:21
  But, um, it didn't take me too long.
• 9:24
  It probably only took me a couple of days to kind of just, uh, I guess, wrap my head around the idea of coming back and then driving with Greg and also driving at a team that I hadn't driven at before.
• 9:36
  It's all kind of exciting and interesting to, to come back and do it.
• 9:41
  And, um,
• 9:43
  Yeah, obviously I could never have imagined that it would lead to what it's led to.
• 9:48
  I mean, I guess there was always a small part in the back of my mind during the lead up, which ended up being two years with the delay of coming back full time.
• 10:03
  yeah, and obviously put in a lot of work and it's, I guess, nice to know that it did end up leading to, I guess, the best possible outcome and that all that work was worth it.
• 10:17
  Cool.
• 10:17
  In the stepping stone of the process that's ultimately led you to Grove in the middle is a thing now called Red Bull Ampol Racing and you getting to pair with Shane in the Enduros and
• 10:33
  straight after Garth announced he was going to TenRite Racing.
• 10:39
  So that's what kicked it all off.
• 10:41
  So as soon as that announcement came out, then yeah, within a couple of days...
• 10:48
  Yeah, the discussion started, yeah, I mean, prominently led by Shane, I guess.
• 10:53
  Shane was keen to drive with me.
• 10:55
  And yeah, it all just sort of stemmed from there.
• 10:57
  How has the year been with that outfit?
• 11:00
  You've been doing some stuff up in Asia and with their GT program as well.
• 11:04
  How much, how good has that been for you so far this year?
• 11:07
  Yeah, it's been everything that I'd hoped for.
• 11:12
  getting an inside look into the most successful organization in the category is, yeah, it's what every driver that races in supercars dreams of.
• 11:26
  Obviously, it wasn't in a full-time capacity, but with the test days I've had so far and then the Enduro is coming up, plus the GT program, it's still been, yeah, a fairly full-on program.
• 11:37
  And yeah,
• 11:39
  Yeah, you just can't put a price on how valuable it is to be inside of that organization and to, I guess, see why you've been beaten so many times before.
• 11:51
  Yeah.
• 11:54
  you walk into the, into the workshop and you see all of the trophies and then you get five minutes into your first board meeting and, and the penny drops and you sort of realize, Oh, okay, this is, this is why we've been beaten so much in the past.
• 12:09
  So,
• 12:10
  To be on the inside like that has just been incredible and I've really, really been enjoying it.
• 12:16
  Give us your impressions of the Gen 3 car.
• 12:18
  Obviously, Shane's on record as feeling like he's struggled with the beast at times or perhaps hasn't enjoyed it.
• 12:26
  Maybe that's the better set of words.
• 12:27
  How have you found it and how are you looking forward to the Enduros?
• 12:31
  To be honest, I've really been enjoying it.
• 12:34
  I guess for me, I've got a pretty fresh perspective on it all and,
• 12:39
  It's also a big part of the reason why I'm keen to come back full time because it's addressed a lot of the issues that I struggled with in the past.
• 12:50
  Things like the engine lotteries and taking away a lot of the...
• 12:56
  the scope for design and, and in a lot of the parts, uh, that, you know, when you race with it, with smaller teams on lower budgets, it's not that fun to, um, to know that you turn up to the track.
• 13:11
  And even if you get everything perfect, if you nail the tire pressures, you get a good car balance, um,
• 13:17
  you're probably not going to win on that day, you know, whereas the, with the gen three car, I guess it's, um, yeah, just, it's just seems a lot more interesting to me and, uh, yeah, the car's fun to drive.
• 13:30
  It's still very much got all of that supercar DNA and, um, yeah, it's just, it's an interesting challenge.
• 13:39
  Uh, obviously the steering rack needs to be fixed, but, um,
• 13:45
  Yeah, the timing should work out for me.
• 13:47
  Like I'm sure they'll probably have that fixed by next year.
• 13:50
  So it's probably not been all bad, you know, being out on the sidelines for the year.
• 13:55
  Not ideal, but obviously this year will give them the time to fix a lot of the issues.
• 14:03
  Yeah, I've been enjoying the car.
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  It's been fun to drive.
• 14:07
  Geno colleagues in the early part of this silly season discussion thought you were the man perhaps most likely to take over from Shane.
• 14:14
  I don't know what you can or are comfortable with sharing, mate, but obviously you've ended up at Groves.
• 14:21
  Can you tell us a bit about that process, how you've landed there and why you've gone that path?
• 14:28
  Yeah, so they reached out after SMP and...
• 14:34
  Yeah, it all sort of came together really quickly.
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  And the more I looked into it, I just sort of couldn't see, couldn't find anything other than green flags.
• 14:45
  And just with the people that they've recruited and just the way they're going about everything, I just, yeah, was just more and more impressed the more I looked into it.
• 14:59
  And it just sort of felt right to me
• 15:02
  So I just had a gut feeling and, yeah, I've gone with that gut feeling and, yeah, I think it should hopefully work out well.
• 15:11
  Awesome.
• 15:11
  They're on the build, aren't they?
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  I mean, with the people that they have acquired, with the attention to detail around the cars and the line-up of drivers for that matter.
• 15:22
  The Groves do enjoy some international competition as well.
• 15:25
  Is there scope here for you to perhaps do a little bit of that or is it purely just supercars that you're going to focus on here?
• 15:30
  Yeah, I hope so.
• 15:31
  I've been enjoying the GT racing this year.
• 15:35
  It's not something I'd like to do full time.
• 15:37
  That's why I'm obviously pleased to get the supercar gig so I can focus more on that than what I have been able to do this year.
• 15:46
  But to do it on the side, I think is really fun.
• 15:51
  You know, GT racing has its issues as well with BOP and
• 15:56
  they're not the best cars to race because of the amount of downforce you lose when you're following.
• 16:01
  But yeah, in terms of just driving the car around the track and going to some cool racetracks and yeah, getting just staying race fit, I think is that they're really useful for that.
• 16:13
  We'll get Richie to stick around with us a little bit longer.
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  We'll be back in just a few moments.
• 16:21
  You're listening to the Motorsport Brief, a short cast offering in Rusty's Garage, which is new for 2023.
• 16:27
  Today, Richie Stanaway is chatting with us from New Zealand following the news that he is returning full time to supercars next year.
• 16:37
  Are you setting yourself a little objective?
• 16:40
  Are you the kind that perhaps won't go into this second running at supercars with a clearly defined list of goals?
• 16:48
  What is your sort of target, if there is one, Richie, going into 2024?
• 16:53
  I think the target is to win.
• 16:55
  I think, yeah, both Penratt Racing and myself are very clear about that.
• 16:59
  Yeah, we don't want to be making up the numbers and we'll be doing everything we can to win.
• 17:06
  And if we're coming short of that, then neither of us will be...
• 17:11
  will be happy.
• 17:12
  So that's what the target is, and we're both going to be pushing to achieve that.
• 17:17
  Good on you.
• 17:18
  All right, final one for you.
• 17:19
  The shorter-term objective is pairing up with SVG and the Enduros.
• 17:25
  From what you've experienced so far and between now and those races, how confident are you?
• 17:32
  Yeah, I mean, I'm excited to drive with Shane.
• 17:36
  There's still a lot that I can learn from him.
• 17:38
  There's only so much I can learn from the test days.
• 17:42
  But to actually go in now and race with him, I think there's a lot that I can absorb from him before he goes off to the U.S.,
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  And obviously working with the team in a race environment as well.
• 17:56
  So yeah, I'm just really excited to see how we can go.
• 17:59
  He's second in the championship with two of the highest available points coming up in the next two races.
• 18:08
  If we have a good run through, then yeah, obviously we've got his championship to think about.
• 18:14
  And yeah, just feeling up to the task in terms of doing my role.
• 18:20
  And yeah, just really excited to get through it all.
• 18:24
  All right.
• 18:25
  You're in the sim as you talk to us today.
• 18:27
  How much have you been enjoying doing that?
• 18:30
  You love the sim, don't you?
• 18:32
  Yeah, I've sort of been a bit on the fence with it in the recent past, not trying to spend too much time on it, but
• 18:42
  Now that I know that I'm coming back full time, I've really ramped up the hours that I'm putting in on it and obviously that'll continue over the next few years.
• 18:51
  I've actually got some sand down testing scheduled for the rest of the day with Shane because we're doing a virtual sand down 500 on the weekend.
• 19:02
  We'll be testing into the late hours of the night, I'm sure.
• 19:06
  I won't hold you up from that.
• 19:07
  Thank you very much for talking to us today.
• 19:09
  Grab this opportunity with both hands.
• 19:11
  We know that you will.
• 19:13
  We're excited that you're back in the sport on a full-time basis and that you've got this opportunity, Richie, and we hope it goes well for you.
• 19:21
  Thank you for talking to us today.
• 19:22
  Cool.
• 19:23
  Thanks, Rusty.
• 19:26
  Love to know what you think.
• 19:28
  Can he come back bigger and better than ever as Grove Racing continues its impressive build toward being a regular, serious title contending outfit?
• 19:38
  While we're on that team, they have announced that Garth Tander will pair with Dave Reynolds for the great race.
• 19:44
  while international Porsche driver Kevin Estra comes in to join young Kiwi Matt Payne in their other car.
• 19:50
  Craig Lowndes has inked a new deal with Triple Eight, which enables the sport's modern-day hero to continue with the team's wildcard program through to 2025.
• 20:00
  The new two-year deal means he will have been with the squad for over two decades.
• 20:06
  Next year represents a 20-year milestone for Lowndes together with Triple Eight.
• 20:13
  Cool story.
• 20:14
  Bit of movement in IndyCar with Marcus Ericsson switching next year from Chip Ganassi to Andretti Autosport.
• 20:21
  Colleagues at Motorsport.com reporting...
• 20:24
  A fallout between Ericsson and Chip Ganassi over Marcus' salary relative to other drivers in the Ganassi stable.
• 20:31
  Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean may have an uphill battle now to find a drive next year as the grid for IndyCar takes shape.
• 20:40
  Well done to Hayden Padden, who's won the European Rally Championship.
• 20:44
  The former factory Hyundai driver who is based out of Cromwell in New Zealand and has worked hard to stitch international opportunities together post-COVID while pioneering the development of an electric rally car, Padden and co-driver John Kennard are the first non-Europeans to win that crown.
• 21:03
  Massive congrats to Jet Lawrence.
• 21:05
  The Aussies win in the penultimate round of the AMA Pro Motocross at Buds Creek in the US marked his 20th consecutive moto win and 10th round win, having clinched the championship the week before.
• 21:19
  That is mega.
• 21:20
  We've got to get him on.
• 21:21
  F1 roars back into life this weekend after the summer break for the Dutch round at Zandvoort.
• 21:26
  That's a nice little segue to let you know that another feature ep drops next Tuesday with Louise Goodman, the F1 reporter who worked with Murray Walker, James Allen and more on the coverage all those years ago, as well as doing PR for the likes of...
• 21:41
  Eddie Jordan, working with drivers like Martin Brundle, Eddie Irvine and more.
• 21:46
  Some very cool stories there, including interviewing the cast of Ocean's Eleven on the grid at Monaco.
• 21:52
  You'll enjoy it.
• 21:53
  Our thanks to Link Kelly for the quick turnaround of this one and our gun producer Tom Dullard as well.
• 21:58
  We will catch you next week, everyone.
• 22:00
  Bye for now.