Richards at home with Red Bull
After victory with Ford Performance Racing at Mount Panorama last year, Steven Richards shocked the V8 Supercars community by shifting teams for the 2014 Pirtek Enduro Cup.
And his competitors will need to watch out once again because he is settling in well with the Triple Eight powerhouse and with three Bathurst 1000 wins to his name, each paired with a different driver, he knows exactly how to get the job done.
Richards drove the Red Bull Racing Australia Holden Commodore he will share with Craig Lowndes at yesterday's test day at Queensland Raceway and seemed to be having a ball with his new crew.
"It's been good, nice and sunny... A great start, all good, the car feels great," he told v8supercars.com.au yesterday.
"I fit straight into Craig's seat, which is half the battle. We don't need any changes or inserts or driver comfort stuff, so that's a bonus. I've gone round and round and round for 25-30 laps, it was good."
The team gave both Richards and Jamie Whincup's co-driver Paul Dumbrell laps in the Commodores in preparation for the Pirtek Enduro Cup, as well as running through driver changes.
Richards' confidence heading to the big three events stems from how comfortable he is driving a V8 Supercar, after years of experience.
"I'm probably pretty lucky, when I get into these cars I don't feel like I've ever really been out of them... At the end of the day I'm probably in a better position than other guys who have done less miles in V8 Supercars, so I'm happy that's not going to be an issue," he said.
He agreed that on paper, he and Lowndes are clearly one of - if not the - combination to beat at this year's most prestigious race, the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
"On paper, but it's that old clich - we've got to be the hardest working team and best team on the day to get the result.
"That's what we've got to work towards, make sure we're a well-oiled machine on those days to get that result.
"But there's absolutely no question in my mind that we've got the best team and the best drivers to achieve that, it's just a case of making sure we're the best team and drivers on the day!"
Despite being in the game so long, the 41-year old said he had not really worked with anyone from the Red Bull team before.
"I'm just getting to know people's names and not get in the way too much, have a chat to them, it's been good. They're great guys - most guys in V8s are - but it's just good to see how the class team of the past six or seven years works...
"You want to have as normal a routine and regimen as you possibly can (as a co-driver), so that's all been great. And I've been up here a couple of times to the workshop at different points so I already feel like I am slotting in. It's excellent."
Team principal Mark Dutton said tyre life and setup were the main considerations at the test, and that there was no new componentry of note on the Commodores.
"We just played with the tools we've got to make the most (of them)," Dutton said.
"The big part of test days is understanding what you've got and what you've used. You go to a race meeting - these are what the issues are, this is what the feedback is - and bang, I know that from testing."
'Dutto' described it as a positive day and while Alex Davison's off at turn three held up the teams for a time, Red Bull got through most of the items on the checklist.
"We still have to go and analyse the stuff and the numbers, but it was good. It let us do a bit on the cars and cross check with each other's cars. Everyone put in a really huge effort," Dutton said.
Red Bull Racing Australia has a ride day scheduled today at theV8 Supercars Official Driving Experience in Norwell.
