Ford Performance Racing's Steven Richards believes that it is not how drivers handle victory, but how they handle defeat that will determine how the V8 Supercar championship is played out.
Richards made the pronouncement after guiding FPR to a first-ever 1-2 round result at the SkyCity Triple Crown Challenge at Hidden Valley Raceway in Darwin, guiding the Ford squad back on track after a controversial second race.
“This is the best team I have been involved with, in that, when we've had a bad round, we've always bounced back," Richards said after claiming race three victory to head team-mate Mark Winterbottom and Holden's Garth Tander on the round podium.
"We really look at what went wrong, we set things straight and make sure it never happens again. When you do that then, all of a sudden, you have a great organisation. It's nice to have the win after the last few disappointing rounds. It's not only that, but having two cars on the podium - let alone a 1-2 - is an outstanding effort. And I am ever hopeful that things can get even better than this.”
Richards has ridden on the back of his team - and the challenge of Winterbottom, who retained the championship lead after the weekend - to some extent this season, but came into his own at the end of a week where Ford has come under the microscope for withdrawing funding from the majority of its teams. FPR escaped the cull, along with Stone Brothers Racing, but Richards insisted that it was important for the team to shine at Hidden Valley.
“There's no doubt it was a great result for our team under the circumstances, but the next three rounds, in my mind, are absolutely critical for what's going to fall out in the championship,” he said of the three events in three states with two weeks between each, “It's going to put an enormous amount of pressure on the teams to turn cars around, but also maintain the detail and the car preparation. It's a really important phase of the championship and, on the back side of Winton, we are really going to see how the championship is unfolding.”
