Jason Richards has completed a pre-event shakedown of his new Sprint Gas Racing Holden Commodore ahead of the latest rounds of the V8 Supercar Championship this weekend at Sandown.

The debut of the new VE Commodore in the fifth round of the season will mark the first time this season that Sprint Gas Racing will have both of its 2008 cars on track.

Greg Murphy's Holden was debuted at the recent Hamilton round. Richards' car was started in late March, was being painted during the weekend of the Perth round and put together in record time.

A team of eight people put in exhaustive hours to ensure the car was ready for this weekend's Sandown round. Once returned from the paint shop it took 17 days to build in preparation for the shakedown, which comprised of 20 laps of the Winton Raceway circuit.

“I'm pretty happy to have the new car, it's been a long time coming,” Richards said. “It's pretty different to what I have driven so far, it's like learning to drive a V8 all over again. The potential is amazing.

“The test today went without a hitch, it was a perfect day. I think it bodes well for the future. From this event onwards Murph and I can compare data, try new things and get the cars tuned sooner rather than later.”

Richards added that his season starts this weekend at Sandown with the focus over the remainder of the year being to show the rest of the field what the Tasman Motorsport-run team is capable of.

“The first four rounds of the season have been frustrating, but for us the season proper starts now,” he said. “We've got ten rounds to prove ourselves and show everyone what we're capable of. There's a lot of work to do, it won't be easy but it's definitely exciting.”