Motorsport: Radisich signs with Team Kiwi for next year's V8s

Former World Cup touring car champion Paul Radisich has been confirmed as Team Kiwi's driver for next year's Australian V8 Supercar season.

He will have a new Holden VZ car and new engines as the New Zealand team seek to secure a place among the front-runners in the championship.

"It will be a very competitive package," he said, "with a new car and a top engine builder. I'm looking forward to see if I can drag it along a little further and put the black car in a strong position.

"I had three options to choose from and Team Kiwi's was by far the best. It's great that I'll be back in New Zealand colours."

Team Kiwi's driver for the past two seasons, Craig Baird, is moving to the WPS team at the end of the season, after achieving Team Kiwi's first pole position at Winton in July.

Radisich became available when Triple Eight Engineering hired Craig Lowndes for their Ford team and did not renew Radisich's contract for next year.

The 42-year-old brings a wealth of experience to the New Zealand team. He was a successful single-seater driver both in New Zealand and overseas, winning the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe in 1987.

When he switched to touring cars he won the 1993 and 1994 world cup titles in the Ford Mondeo, which he raced successfully in the British championship.

He was runner-up at Bathurst in 1990 in a Ford Sierra and in 1999 made his fulltime debut in the V8 championship with the Dick Johnson team. He was second again at Bathurst in 2000.

He joined the Triple Eight team last year and finished the year 10th. The team have suffered reliability problems this year - Radisich was leading at Bathurst when the suspension failed. With the final round to be run at Eastern Creek next weekend, Radisich is 21st in the championship. Baird is 27th.

Team Kiwi have moved to the Holden Performance Driving Centre on the Gold Coast, where they will work with Paul Morris Racing.

Team owner David John yesterday said Radisich had a contract for a minimum of two years, at the end of which he might move into a management role.