RICHIE Stanaway has declared himself officially on the market for a full-time Repco Supercars Championship return after a successful Bathurst 1000 campaign.
Ever since the Erebus Motorsport/Boost Mobile wildcard was first announced last year, Stanaway had stopped short of confirming a pursuit of a full-time comeback, instead indicating he’d assess after the Great Race.
The time has come and the verdict is in: Stanaway wants in.
Despite being a contender for a front-running team to swoop on as a 2023 co-driver, the 30-year-old confirmed to V8 Sleuth his clear preference is to be back full-time.
“I think if I co-drive next year, then I’m starting to get a bit too old really and too much time on the sidelines and will probably be stuck co-driving,” he added.
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As it stands, precious few vacancies remain in the 2023 market.
The most obvious one is at Matt Stone Racing, who are hunting a replacement for Blanchard Racing Team-bound Todd Hazelwood, but the team has committed to blooding a rookie alongside Jack Le Brocq.
Either way, Stanaway showed well in arguably the first chance he’s had to be the primary driver of a competitive Supercar.
The Kiwi mastered wet conditions to sensationally qualify for the Top 10 Shootout and then combined with Greg Murphy to finish 11th at the end of 161 laps.
“I would have liked to have gotten in the top 10 but we had a lot go wrong: we were a lap down for so long,” Stanaway reflected to V8 Sleuth.
“We got that one restart with 15 laps to go where we were actually back in contention – I wanted to have a crack at Will Brown but just didn’t quite have the speed which kind of disappointed me a little bit.
“But I guess no one would have expected me to be quicker than him so that’s why I was trying to do it.”
There was plenty of reason to smile though, Stanaway dubbing the overall experience “awesome”.
“On that restart and at points during the race, racing Golding, it was a pretty unreal experience to be sliding a Supercar between the walls around here with all these guys,” he said.
“They all drive at such a high level; it’s pretty satisfying to be out there and be amongst it all.”
