25 best Supercars drivers since 2000: #17 Steven Richards
As 2025 gets underway, Supercars.com is ranking the top 25 drivers of the last 25 years, continuing with Steven Richards, who comes in as our #17.
Jim Richards is a hard act to follow, and Steven had it all to do as the competitive landscape rapidly evolved in the 2000s.
A quarter of the way into the 21st century, and Richards junior transformed himself into a reliable steerer, adding three Bathurst wins and a PIRTEK Enduro Cup to his name.
Richards transitioned into co-driving in 2011, but before he went down that path, he was a star talent across a range of different teams. From Gibson Motorsport to Perkins Engineering, and finally to Ford Performance Racing, Richards was always there and about.
Richards took his final solo win at the 2008 Darwin round, with Mark Winterbottom emerging as FPR’s leading light. FPR called on Richards to help Winterbottom break his Bathurst duck, and they duly delivered in 2013.
Triple Eight Race Engineering prised Richards away from FPR, and alongside Craig Lowndes, he won the 2015 and 2018 Bathurst 1000s to take his tally to five.
A final start with Winterbottom at Team 18 followed in 2019, before Richards pulled the pin, ending a remarkable career that saw the second-generation driver scale the Mountains highest heights.
Steven Richards' key stats since 2000
Years active: 2000-2019
Rounds: 172
Races: 365
Best championship position: 5th (2004)
Best finish: 1st (9 wins)
Top three finishes: 56
Best start: 1st (6 pole positions)
Best Bathurst result: 1st (2013, 2015, 2018)
The highlight
Helping Winterbottom to victory in 2013 was a great result, the win coming 14 years after his previous success. Two years later, Lowndes/Richards kept in clean on a day their rivals tripped up.
Come 2018, 44-year-old Lowndes and 46-year-old Richards probably didn’t seem like they could hold off their younger rivals. A Sandown podium suggested otherwise, and on a day Lowndes pushed Reynolds to failure, Richards became a five-time winner in what was the fastest Bathurst ever.
Had you told a 26-year-old Richards back in 1998 that he would win five times, his fifth by 46, he’d probably shrug and deliver a wry joke. But put him in the seat, and give him a fast car, Richards could do it as good as anyone.
Only five drivers, one of them his father, have won more Bathursts than Richards. When no one really took him seriously, Richards’ 2018 triumph was almost a ‘stuff you’ to everyone. Some drive, some driver.
Why we picked him
Since 2000, only six drivers — Richards, Mark Skaife, Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup, Garth Tander and Shane van Gisbergen — have won the Great Race six or more times. On that alone, Richards is one of the greats.
While achieved before our cut-off, Richards remains the only driver to win the Great Race in consecutive years in a Ford and a Holden. That’s a stunning achievement, and one that’s worth recognising here.
He raced solo for big teams, like Perkins and FPR, and mounted unlikely title challenges. However, from the shadow of his legendary father, Richards emerged a co-driver extraordinaire, winning Bathurst three times in a six-year period, for two teams.
The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of Supercars, teams or drivers.
