Motorsport: Richards upbeat on Ford

New Zealander Steven Richards is expecting a wide open contest when the V8 Supercar series returns to Hamilton's streets at the weekend.

The Ford driver was runner-up 12 months ago to Australian Garth Tander in the inaugural Hamilton 400.

He said that result was an obvious source of confidence as he looked to go one better and break the monopoly Holden has held on this side of the Tasman.

However, the early season form guide from the Adelaide 500 and the non-counting manufacturers' challenge at the Australian Grand Prix indicated there would be plenty of challengers for the chequered flag.

"We're not going to rest on our laurels, that's for sure," Richards said.

"I think it's going to be the most open of race meetings that we've had in New Zealand for some time."

While Tander dominated with a clean sweep of all three races last April, Richards had the honour of being the first driver to take pole position in Hamilton.

He went on to claim a third placing and two seconds, to finish the weekend second overall.

Hamilton, which took over from Pukekohe as the circuit's New Zealand stop, is the second round of this year's championship, and there has been a major change to the format.

Instead of three short races, two long endurance contests will take place on the 3.4km circuit, one each on Saturday and Sunday.

Defending series champion Jamie Whincup heads into the event as the early competition leader, having claimed maximum points in Adelaide last month.

Whincup will be hoping for much better luck than he had in Hamilton last year, when his participation ended with a crash in qualifying.

Holden drivers Will Davison and Lee Holdsworth complete an all-Victorian top three on the points table.

The best of the New Zealand contingent are Jason Richards (Holden) fifth, 19-year-old Shane Van Gisbergen (Ford) sixth equal and Fabian Coulthard (Ford) 10th.

Crowd favourite Greg Murphy (Holden), winner on four of the seven occasions at Pukekohe, is 17th.

Steven Richards, no relation to Jason Richards, had steering problems with his new FG Falcon and pit issues in Adelaide, and is 20th.

A Ford has never won the New Zealand round, but that didn't faze Richards, who believes he or Ford Performance Racing teammate Mark Winterbottom, last year's championship runner-up, could break that duck.

"It comes down quite often to just the team and driver combination that gets it right, and clearly last year we were capable of getting it right with pole position," he said.

"We didn't quite have the pace in the races, but second was pretty close."

- NZPA