How Golding delivered latest Supercars lifeline to Stanaway
Richie Stanaway to race with James Golding at 2026 enduros
Golding and Stanaway were teammates at GRM (2019) and PremiAir (2025)
Stanaway won 2017 Sandown 500, 2023 Bathurst 1000 as a co-driver
James Golding is adamant the signing of Richie Stanaway is a big tick for Blanchard Racing Team, having attracted the 2023 Bathurst winner to the team.
Confirmed late last year, Stanaway will race alongside BRT recruit Golding in the 2026 Ryco Enduro Cup.
It marks a return to co-driving for Stanaway, who won the 2017 Sandown 500 and 2023 Bathurst 1000 alongside Cam Waters and Shane van Gisbergen respectively.
Stanaway's full-time stints with Penrite Racing and PremiAir Racing delivered few highlights, with the latter stint ending two rounds early.
With BRT looking for a co-driver to partner new signing Golding, Golding himself put Stanaway's name forward.
Golding and Stanaway have twice been teammates in Supercars, at Garry Rogers Motorsport (2019) and PremiAir Racing (2025). Never before have they shared a car, yet given Stanaway's co-driver stocks, Golding believes it could deliver the goods to BRT.
"I instigated it,” Golding replied when asked by Supercars.com about the Stanaway deal.
"It was definitely discussed, definitely brought up by the team about who's available and who would be at the top of the list. Richie was right up there.
"I contacted him and it went from there. It wasn't an overnight thing, that's for sure. But, we worked on it and I think he's gonna be great for the team.
"There's gonna be some stuff he can really help with outside of the endurance races as well, which will be a positive.”
Stanaway was one of two "major" puzzle pieces for Golding, who is also welcoming race-winning engineer Tony Woodward from Brad Jones Racing.
Woodward spent the last 11 seasons with BJR, notably leading Andre Heimgartner to victory at Taupō in 2024.
“Getting Tony and Richie onboard is huge for the team,” Golding said.
"I obviously haven't worked with Tony previously, but from talking with him, it feels like we're already on the same page, and I feel like it's gonna be a pretty easy relationship to build on.
"Richie, I've worked with time and time again. I know what he is capable of, I know how he works. We've worked together many times, so that's gonna be a smooth transition there. He'd be right up there with the best co-drivers available, coming off full-time.
"It's now about knuckling down, doing the work and everyone believing in themselves and working together.”
