Recharged Stanaway opens up after challenging year

The returning Richie Stanaway is feeling comfortable in his new surrounds at Blanchard Racing Team following a turbulent end to 2025.

The 2023 Bathurst winner emerged at Queensland Raceway for this week's pre-enduro test, getting plenty of seat time in James Golding's CoolDrive Ford Mustang.

Save for some laps at February's Sydney test day and sampling a Gen2 Ford at Winton in June, it has been a quiet year on track for Stanaway, who last raced a Supercar on the Gold Coast last October.

Stanaway parted ways with PremiAir Racing with two rounds remaining last season, replaced by incoming driver Jayden Ojeda. It seemed then that the Kiwi's full-time chapter had come to a close.

Then teammate Golding prepared to set sail for BRT, and Golding urged the team and get Stanaway there as his co-driver. Stanaway signed on, and is now armed with another shot — albeit, as a heavy underdog — to return to glory.

For Stanaway, just getting back into a car was cause to smile in itself.

"I haven't driven for a while, so it was nice to get back in the car a few weeks and just get back into the groove,” Stanaway told Supercars.com.

"I did a few laps in a Super2 car at Winton before Darwin. It wasn’t more than 10 laps, but it was still something.

"I had a good race here last year, and I’m feeling pretty comfortable going there. Jimmy’s on a good run of form. We've got a few little things to tidy up, but I think everyone’s pretty excited to get there."

When approached by Supercars.com at the test day, Stanaway was quietly sitting out the back of the BRT garages, poring over data from the day. The New Zealander appeared as committed as ever — and the driver himself appears to be in an environment where he can be himself, and enjoy the racing.

"I watch every session. I mean, it's hard not to when you're gonna be in one of the races later in the year,” Stanaway said.

"I still follow the racing closely, but I'm happy with where I'm at. I'm really happy here. I know Jimmy really well, and the team's been really accommodating for me.

"I recently went to a CoolDrive function the other night and learnt a lot about the business and about the Blanchard family. It’s a very family oriented team, it's cool to be a part of it."

Stanaway's racing career has had its highly publicised peaks and troughs. Having had another period away from the track, Stanaway is privately making it count, despite admitting going full turkey on racing would've been detrimental.

"I've been busy working on a lot of different projects, trying to figure out what I'm gonna do for the next 30 years,” Stanaway said.

“It’s a wide range of things to keep me very busy. It’s been a nice lifestyle change to be able to work as much as I want.

“When you're a driver, you spend a lot of time in limbo between races. It’s been good to have a bit of a change of pace and feel like I can work on something every day rather than just going for a run.

“But at the same time, it's nice to be still involved in racing and get to still drive a little bit, because I don't think I would've enjoyed being completely out of it this year.”

So, therein lies the question: can Golding — the driver who crossed the line first last year — and 2023 winner Stanaway pull off a Great Race miracle?

“To be honest, I think we're just trying our best at everything we can do,” Stanaway said.

"I don't think we're trying to visualise any sort of outcome or result. It's just about trying to improve and do everything as good as we can.

“I mean, Jimmy technically crossed the line first last year, and I've already won it as a co-driver, so it's not like we're still trying to prove ourselves in our roles.

"Jimmy's in a good point of his career where he's got a really good mixture of experience, but he's still quite young, and in a pretty good position to have a good race, I would've thought.

"I’m happy to be here, and to support him."