21/6/2009
Steve Richards made a fabulous recovery in today's V8 Supercar Championship racing at Hidden Valley, whilst the heat put pays to team-mate Mark Winterbottom's great run.

Qualifying 23rd for this afternoon's race Richo was frustrated by the Castrol FPR Falcon's continued poor handling. Pre-race changes however saw him cruise from the back to the front of the race, challenging for sixth after completing both pit stops by 1/3 distance.

"Something that we changed between qualifying and the race has transformed the car because you can't drive from 23rd to the front on strategy alone; there's got to be something else," said Richo. "Dan, my engineer, was keeping me informed of the fact that we were making ground and that we would probably come out in the top five after all the pit stops were settled. I was driving hard but conservatively because I knew I had to do a long stint with the same tyres."