Grove reaffirms Stanaway support after Sandown DNF
Engine failure ended promising Sandown 500 for Richie Stanaway
Reigning Bathurst winner now 18th in championship
Current Super2 Series leader Kai Allen to replace Stanaway next year
Brenton Grove has reinforced that Penrite Racing are continuing to support the outgoing Richie Stanaway for the remainder of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship.
Grove, who is now the Executive Director of Grove Racing following the recent acquisition of Troy Bundy as CEO, has doubled down on the stance following a difficult Penrite Oil Sandown 500 for Stanaway.
The weekend showed promise for the reigning Bathurst winner and co-driver Dale Wood, having shown impressive speed in wet conditions in Saturday morning practice.
Having started seventh, Stanaway was running comparably with teammate Matt Payne before suffering what Grove described as a “complete catastrophic engine failure.”
Stanaway’s blow-up would be the first of a spate of Ford engine failures that saw three more Mustangs parked up at the following day’s ride day, with the issue being traced back to a crankshaft problem.
A DNF for Stanaway has seen the 2017 Sandown 500 winner drop back to 18th in the standings, with the Kiwi making way for current Super2 leader Kai Allen at season’s end.
This year has continued a tough solo career for Stanaway, who struggled in single seasons at Tickford and Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2018 and 2019 before retiring from the sport after the 2019 Newcastle 500.
Stanaway starred on his racing return in an Erebus Bathurst wildcard alongside Greg Murphy in 2022, before landing a plumb seat alongside Shane van Gisbergen for the 2023 enduros.
A dominant Bathurst win revived Stanaway’s full-time career, landing at Grove Racing, though the career of the former Aston Martin GT driver is once again at a crossroads.
Although the partnership between Grove Racing and Stanaway hasn’t completely gelled this season, Brenton Grove believes Stanaway is more than capable of being a front runner.
“There's no ill feeling with Richie,” Grove said on Supercars.com’s Schick Cool Down Lap podcast.
“He's got our full support and we want to see him go well, as anyone else does.
"[Seeing him top practice] was great to see. I think it was also equally to see he was strong in the dry. I mean, he was matching Matt today.
"It's why [the DNF] hurts even more because I think we were on for quite a good result and probably one of the best results for the year, and it's unfortunate that didn't happen.”
Whilst Stanaway and Wood had a promising run end early, Payne and Garth Tander carried the hopes of both Grove Racing and Ford, finishing as the top Mustang in fourth place.
Although they were within half a second of a podium, Grove admitted that they didn’t have an answer for the dominant Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaros out front.
“It was a bit of an interesting day really, we didn't quite have the pace to challenge the Triple Eight guys,” Grove said.
"I think we were best of the rest, but we made it difficult at times with our track position. Look, it was a good result in the end, not what we were here for.”
The 2024 Supercars season resumes at the Repco Bathurst 1000 from October 10-13. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
