Great fightback promotes Tasman and Richards to 14th place Championship finish
11/1/2005 16:12 (Press Release) -
Jason Richards and Tasman Inner Circle Rum Motorsport have delivered a fitting farewell to their native Sydney with a rousing return from a shocking start to the round to finish 8th for the round and improve to finish 14th in the championship in the V8 Supercars Grand Finale at Eastern Creek.
Sydney’s only V8 Supercar operation, on the eve of its move to a new home base in Melbourne, gave its fans a taste of what is to come in 2005 by turning out a fast, consistent car that Richards piloted to 17th, 5th and 9th place finishes in the weekend’s three races.
“It’s been great to finish off like this, no doubt about it,” Richards said. “Finishing in the top 15 in the championship was our minimum expectation and we probably made life a bit tough for ourselves during the season in that regard.
“Today we delivered on all the promises we’d made and all the hopes we had, and it’s a great signpost to the future of this team.”
After showing encouraging speed in the qualifying session, disaster struck early as the #3 Tasman Motorsport Commodore was stranded in pit lane for the start of Race 1 due to a miscommunication between the team and officials.
The car started from the rear of the field, with Richards hauling it into 17th position by race end. It was Race 2 which transformed the weekend, however. After stalling on the grid and being relegated to 22nd position, a great drive and the right setup saw Richards charge to a season-high 5th-place finish.
Having spent its best tyres, the team knew Race 3 would be a battle to hold position, and a 9th-place finish to wrap up 8th placing for the round and 14th for the championship was considered a victory by the team.
Team principal Kevin Murphy paid tribute to his driver and team. “We’ve had a tough year and made a few mistakes, but this is a pretty satisfying way to end it,” he said.
“Jason was great out there today, he hasn’t made any mistakes, and the team delivered a couple of top-notch pitstops that set things up beautifully.
“Having said that, we really thought we’d give the Top 10 a shake this year so we’ll do our homework and make sure we’re in position to deliver on that in 2005. This isn’t the finish, it’s only the start, and we firmly believe we’re putting the personnel and processes in place to see a lot more successes for Tasman Motorsport.”
Championship standings (final):
1st Marcos Ambrose 2174pts
2nd Russell Ingall 1936pts
3rd Jason Bright 1930pts
4th Greg Murphy 1913pts
5th Steven Richards 1819pts
6th Rick Kelly 1793pts
7th Todd Kelly 1623pts
8th Jason Bargwanna 1526pts
9th John Bowe 1502pts
10th Steven Johnson 1416pts
11th Garth Tander 1396pts
12th Mark Skaife 1294pts
13th Cameron McConville 1292pts
14th Jason Richards 1245pts
15th Glenn Seton 1237pts
Release Date: 05/12/2004
Tasman Motorsport
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