Tasman extends contract with Jason Richards

Wednesday, August 23, 2006 -- TASMAN Motorsport has extended its contract with foundation driver Jason Richards through until the end of the 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Series.

The 30-year-old, from Nelson in New Zealand, joined the team in 2004 when it was first formed and has been a critical building block in its on-going development.

Runner-up last year in the Bathurst 1000 and a third-place finisher in the Sandown 500, Richards is in his third season with the Melbourne-based team and is happy to have secured his future with Tasman Motorsport.

"I've been with Tasman since the project started and we're really starting to make some serious in roads," Richards said.

"So I would like to see this through to the team being a championship-contending outfit and being one of the ingredients in it.

"I've thoroughly enjoyed my motor racing since I've been with Tasman. Some great friendships have developed over the years from everyone involved in the team, from the directors to the guys who work on my car, and that's a big factor in producing results.

'It's nice to extend my contract at this early stage. That shows commitment from both parties in one another for the future. Our focus now is improving on our results from last year in the endurance events at Sandown and Bathurst."

Team principal Kevin Murphy said that by extending Richards' contract by one year over his existing agreement, Tasman had positioned itself well for ongoing stability.

"Our results together have been getting better and better each year and having continuity is important to continue that upward trend," said Murphy.

"We will be reviewing Andrew Jones' position with the team over the coming two months and hope to be able to settle our 2007 plans after the endurance events."

-credit: tasmanmotorsport.com.au