KEY POINTS:
After more than a decade away from New Zealand, V8 Supercar driver Paul Radisich is returning home.
Radisich has secured a drive with the Tracer Motorsport team to compete in the 2007/08 NZV8 series.
"In recent years, my racing and business commitments haven't allowed for me to compete
for an entire NZV8 series. So while I've been having discussions with Simon Cressey [major shareholder in Tracer] for some time, it is only now I can fully commit and support the national series," said Radisich on signing the deal to drive the Ford-powered entry.
Radisich has not raced since severing ties with Team Kiwi Racing in May, but the 44-year-old says it has ultimately worked out quite well.
He secured a drive for the endurance rounds of the Australian Supercar V8 series at Sandown and Bathurst last month with the championship-leading Toll HSV Dealer Team, where he'll join fellow Kiwi Craig Baird and regular drivers Rick Kelly and Garth Tander.
"You could not have asked for a better opportunity.
"To be able to get, probably, the best endurance drive this late in the season was just brilliant," said Radisich.
During the enforced layoff, Radisich took time to have the ankle he broke at Bathurst last year looked at, as it was still troubling him.
"There was a bone fragment still floating around in the joint causing the ankle to lock up sometimes.
"So I had the operation to clean it out and I'll be pretty close to 100 per cent right for the first endurance round at Sandown."
Having cemented a drive in the endurance rounds of the Australian series, the two-time FIA world touring car champion keeps his options open for a fulltime drive in next year's Supercar V8 series, and if offered a seat will still race in the New Zealand series - even if it means racing both classes at Hamilton.
Having first won a New Zealand title in 1988, Radisich said the decision to run with Tracer Motorsport was largely performance based.
"Like many in the industry, I've been keeping an eye on the field and who the leading teams are. Given the number of race wins Tracer have achieved and my long association with Simon, I feel confident they will provide me with the best opportunity.
"It's the team David Besnard drove for last year and he won quite a few races and they're a good, well-organised team.
"This is my opportunity to put a little bit back into the domestic championship and it's a great chance for me to spend a little bit of time back at home and catch up with the family and enjoy myself."
Radisich by his own admission is not a great spectator, and the opportunity to race in the NZV8s allows him to keep his race mileage up.
The seven-round series travels the length of the country and will again be incorporated into the A1GP and V8 Supercar events.
Kiwi V8s
2007-08 Championship Calendar:
* Rd 1: November 2-4, 2007, Pukekohe Park.
* Rd 2: November 23-25, 2007, Ruapuna Park.
* Rd 3: January 17-20, 2008, Taupo Motorsport Park (A1GP meeting).
* Rd 4: February 15-17, 2008, Manfeild Park (Feilding).
* Rd 5: February 29-March 2, 2008, Timaru International Motor Raceway.
* Rd 6: March 7-9, 2008, Teretonga Park (Invercargill).
* Rd 7: TBC April 2008, Hamilton Street Race (V8 Supercar event. NB: Date to be confirmed, but it will be during the school holidays).
Paul Radisich
Race history:
* Formula Atlantic runner-up, earning the Driver to Europe award, 1983.
* Raced in British Formula 3 in 1985-86, alongside Damon Hill. Later raced in Indy Lights and Super Vee with some success, before coming second in the 1990 Bathurst 1000.
* Won the 1993 and 1994 Touring Car World Cup events at Monza and Donington respectively. Finished third in the British Touring Car Championship series in 1993 and 1994.
* After racing for Peugeot in 1998, he left the series and went to the V8 Supercar series in Australia.
* Joined Dick Johnson Racing in 1999 and remained until the end of 2002.
* In 2003 he joined Briggs Motorsport, which was renamed under the Triple Eight Racing banner in 2004. He has three race wins and seven other podium results in the championship.
