THERE will be a blast from the past next month at Sandown as the Richards and Bargwanna families team up in conjunction with Garry Rogers Motorsport.
Steven Richards and Jason Bargwanna were GRM teammates in the early stages of the 1998 V8 Supercars season.
Later that year, Bargwanna combined with Jim Richards to finish third in the Bathurst 1000.
Twenty-five years on, Clay Richards and Ben Bargwanna will be teammates within GRM’s TCR Australia stable.
Clay made his TCR debut in June aboard a Melbourne Performance Centre Audi, taking a fine second place finish in the reverse top 10 grid race, before sitting out Round 4 at Queensland Raceway.
The fifth GRM Peugeot, which was run at a Calder Park test in June, was set to be redeployed at Sandown as part of a sponsorship deal between Hangcha Forklifts and the Bargwannas which extends to S5000.
“It’s great to have the Richards name back at GRM,” said Richards, 23.
“My dad raced with Garry Rogers Motorsport when he first entered Supercars and also my grandad as well.
“It’s great to partner up with the Bargwannas, Benny and I’ve got to thank Jason for the opportunity, it’s really exciting.
“I absolutely loved my time at Winton. Getting a podium on debut was really cool and to also get this chance with Garry Rogers Motorsport as well.
“Our expectations were never to get a podium at Winton at my first round of the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia Series, but we just learnt as much as we could and the reverse grid race was really good to us, so to come away with second was an awesome result.
“Sandown is a happy hunting ground for the Peugeots, with Ben getting a win there last year but my main focus is to learn as much as I can as the 308 TCR is a lot different to the Audi I drove at Winton.”
Bargwanna Jr voiced his excitement at the news.
“It’s one of those things in history that comes full circle and it doesn’t happen very often, it’s very exciting,” he said.
“We have a very good relationship with Hangcha and to stick Clay in the other Peugeot, he can get a taste of what I’ve been driving all year, which will be exciting.
“It will be great to work with Clay and he will really benefit having a big team around him. But once we get in the cars, the gloves will definitely be off, and we’ll be going head-to-head!
“Clay is talented, he’s a good driver and he held me off pretty well for a podium spot at Winton, so he can do it. I think he’ll do just as good a job at Sandown in the Peugeot.”
GRM also runs Peugeots for Jordan Cox, Aaron Cameron and Kody Garland.
Sandown hosts Round 5 of the TCR Australia season on September 8-10.
