Richard Stanaway (born 24 November 1991) is a racing car driver from New Zealand. He currently competes in the Ryco Enduro Cup, co-driving with James Golding in the No. 7 Ford Mustang for Blanchard Racing Team.
Career New Zealand
Born in Tauranga, Stanaway was originally from a motocross background, before making the switch to speedway at the age of twelve. Following that came a brief foray into kart racing prior to making his formula car debut in 2007 after being selected for the New Zealand SpeedSport Scholarship. He competed in the 2007/08 Formula First championship finishing third overall as the highest placed rookie.
Stanaway then made the jump to the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship with Hamilton-based, debutant team TSR Racing alongside team-mate Martin Short. Prior to National championship he raced in the winter series to prepare, winning numerous races in the process with the newly imported Mygale chassis. Stanaway won the 2008/09 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship with fourteen race wins, becoming only the second driver in history to win the title as a rookie.
Stanaway then competed in the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship with Adelaide-based, Team BRM, making their debut in the Formula Ford championship after a long history of Formula 3 experience. During his Australian Formula Ford campaign in April 2009, Stanaway made his debut in New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series during a one-off appearance on the Hamilton 400 street circuit, scoring both pole positions and winning both races on debut. He then had to pull out halfway through the Australian Formula Ford Championship to take up testing and racing opportunities in the ADAC Formula Masters Championship in Germany. Despite missing six of the races, Richie finished sixth place in the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship taking one race win and six podium finishes.
Europe In July 2009, Stanaway took up a testing opportunity at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz with Ma-Con Motorsport, a German team competing in the ADAC Formula Masters Championship. The test was organised by Tauranga businessman Maurice O' Reilly, a past investor of New Zealand Indy 500 winner, and Indycar series champion Scott Dixon. Stanaway impressed and was offered a race seat for the remaining six races of the 2009 ADAC Formula Masters Championship held at Nürburgring, Sachsenring and Oschersleben. The required budget was raised through a group of investors, and on 22 August 2009, Stanaway made his European debut at the famous Nürburgring circuit. During the six races, he scored two pole positions and numerous podium finishes, and following the signing of a management contract with RRT Holdings, headed by businessman Martin Reiss, the decision was made to return to contest the full ADAC Formula Masters Championship in 2010.
For the 2010 ADAC Formula Masters Championship, Stanaway dominated proceedings, taking twelve race wins and finished no lower than second place throughout the whole championship. Following that he completed tests with 2010 Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup championship winning team, Koiranen Bros. Motorsport at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, also a test with ATS-Formel 3 cup (German Formula 3) team Van Amersfoort Racing in Oschersleben, and a thorough testing programme with Tech-1 racing in Formula Renault 2.0. Richie then made his racing debut in the United Kingdom, competing in the Formula Renault UK winter cup with Atech-GP which took place at Snetterton and Pembrey, he took a race win and numerous podium placings over the six race series.
Stanaway was then released from his management contract with Martin Reiss to then sign with Gravity Sport Management, a management group headed by Lotus-Renault Formula One team principal Eric Boullier, and contested the 2011 ATS-Formel 3 cup (German Formula 3) with Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing. He replaced Pedro Nunes for the remainder of the 2011 GP3 Series season with the pace-setters, Lotus ART, he would begin at the penultimate round of the championship in Belgium. He finished eighth in the first race and therefore started from pole in the second, where he kept the lead and won the race.
In November 2011, Stanaway tested the new BMW M3 DTM car as one of three young drivers, and then in December, he tested for Formula Renault 3.5 Series team Gravity–Charouz Racing in the invite-only test at Aragon, Spain where he topped the times on the first two days and finished the three-day test with the fastest overall time.
In 2014, Stanaway competed in GP3 for Status Grand Prix. He finished eighth in the overall standings, winning two races and scoring two additional podiums.
Touring Cars
Stanaway made his Supercars debut for Super Black Racing in 2016, co-driving with Chris Pither in the Pirtek Enduro Cup series. He impressed on debut in Sandown, fighting his way from a pit-stop down up to third with slick tyres on a damp track. His team were caught out by a safety car and would eventually drop to 17th and one lap down. In 2017, Stanaway competed in the Sydney round of the Super2 Series, winning the final race. He then drove in the Pirtek Enduro Cup with Cam Waters, winning the Sandown 500 from pole position. They then lead the Bathurst 1000 before an incident on a restart after the safety car, breaking the rear wing. They repaired the car and they went on to finish 16th, three laps down. They also finished in second the first race of the Gold Coast 600, but suffered steering damage in the second race, resulting in a finish position of 21st. It was announced in early December that Stanaway would drive full-time in the Supercars Championship with Tickford Racing.
In 2019, Stanaway moved to Garry Rogers Motorsport after a poor season in 2018. He aggravated a previous neck injury and missed seven races making a return at The Bend SuperSprint. At the Gold Coast 600 he was stood down for missing an autograph signing but reinstated at the next round at Sandown. After a difficult two years in Supercars, Stanaway retired from the sport in November 2019.
In 2021, Peter Adderton from Boost Mobile floated the idea of running a Wildcard entry for Stanaway and four time Bathurst winner Greg Murphy in the upcoming Bathurst 1000. The idea gained massive fan support, helping to convince Stanaway and Murphy to return for the first time since 2019 and 2014 respectively. On 8 June 2021, it was confirmed that the two would return in an Erebus Motorsport run Boost Mobile supported entry. On 12 November 2021, the wildcard was postponed due to travel restrictions between Australia & New Zealand. In late April 2022, Erebus Motorsport confirmed that the Wildcard would be revived for the upcoming Bathurst 1000. There were plans to run Stanaway & Murphy in solo events prior to Bathurst but those plans fell through, the two had three test days prior to the 1000 with the first set to be run at Winton Motor Raceway on 7 June.
In 2023, Stanaway would join Triple Eight to partner Shane van Gisbergen for the Supercars Enduro races, as well as to race in GT World Challenge Australia and GT World Challenge Asia. He would score two podiums in GT and two podiums in Supercars, including victory at the Bathurst 1000. On 21 August, it was announced that he would be driving full-time for Grove Racing in 2024.
Racing record Karting career SeasonSeriesPosition 2007New Zealand Top Half Series - Rotex Light 10thNew Zealand Top Half Series - Formula Junior 17th
Career summary Season Series Team Races Wins Poles F/Laps Podiums Points Position 2007 Formula First Manfeild Winter Series 3 0 0 1 1 170 14th 2007-08 NZ Formula First Championship Sabre Motorsport 24 4 1 5 18 1368 3rd 2008 Formula Ford Manfeild Winter Series TSR Racing 9 5 1 3 7 610 3rd Australian Formula Ford Championship GForce Motorsport 2 0 0 0 0 0 NC 2008-09 New Zealand Formula Ford Championship TSR Racing 21 11 3 4 15 1215 1st 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship Team BRM 16 1 0 2 6 164 6th ADAC Formel Masters ma-con motorsport 6 0 1 0 2 52 8th Toyota Racing Series - Hamilton 400 Trophy 2 2 2 1 2 150 1st 2010 ADAC Formel Masters ma-con motorsport 18 12 2 9 17 315 1st Formula Renault UK Winter Cup Atech GP 6 1 0 1 3 99 5th Toyota Racing Series ETEC Motorsport 6 1 0 2 3 362 10th 2011 German Formula 3 Championship Van Amersfoort Racing 18 13 10 8 16 181 1st GP3 Series Lotus ART 4 1 0 0 1 7 20th 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 Series Lotus 5 0 0 0 0 8 22nd 2013 Porsche Supercup DAMS 9 0 0 0 0 43 12th FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Racing 6 0 0 1 1 27.75 19th Rolex Sports Car Series - GT 1 0 0 0 0 27 79th 2014 GP3 Series Status Grand Prix 18 2 1 1 5 125 8th Formula Renault 3.5 Series Lotus 4 0 0 0 1 21 18th FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Am Aston Martin Racing 3 0 0 1 3 54 10th 2015 GP2 Series Status Grand Prix 18 2 0 0 2 60 10th FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Racing V8 7 1 3 1 1 78 9th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro 1 0 1 1 0 N/A 6th European Le Mans Series - GTC TF Sport 1 0 0 0 0 10 11th 24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP9 Aston Martin Racing10000N/A14th 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Racing 7 1 0 0 3 88 7th European Le Mans Series - GTE 1 0 1 0 1 16 15th 24 Hours of Le Mans - LMGTE Pro 1 0 0 0 0 N/A 6th 24 Hours of Nürburgring - SP910000N/ADNF International V8 Supercars Championship Super Black Racing 4 0 0 0 0 324 44th 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship - LMGTE Pro Aston Martin Racing 3 0 0 0 0 32 14th Super2 SeriesProdrive Racing Australia 4 1 0 1 3 188 25th Supercars Championship 4 1 0 0 2 594 28th 2018 Supercars Championship Tickford Racing 31 0 0 0 0 1214 25th 2019 Supercars Championship Garry Rogers Motorsport 23 0 0 0 0 1146 24th 2022 Supercars Championship Erebus Motorsport 1 0 0 0 0 144 42nd 2023 GT World Challenge Australia - Pro-Am Triple Eight Race Engineering - JMR 4 0 0 0 2 45 11th GT World Challenge Asia - GT3 Triple Eight JMR 4 0 0 0 0 6 37th Supercars Championship Triple Eight Race Engineering2100255826th Intercontinental GT Challenge Grove Racing100000NC2024 Supercars Championship Grove Racing220000144719th2025 Supercars Championship PremiAir Racing28000073322nd
Complete ADAC Formel Masters results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 DC Points 2009 ma-con MotorsportOSC1OSC2ASS1ASS2NÜR1NÜR2HOC1HOC2LAU1LAU2 NÜR1 NÜR2 SAC1 SAC2 OSC1 OSC2 8th 52 2010 ma-con Motorsport OSC1 OSC2 OSC3 SAC1 SAC2 SAC3 HOC1 HOC2 HOC3 ASS1 ASS2 ASS3 LAU1 LAU2 LAU3 NÜR1 NÜR2 NÜR3OSC1OSC2OSC3 1st 315
Complete Toyota Racing Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 DC Points 2010 ETEC MotorsportTER1TER2TER3TIM1TIM2TIM3 HMP1 HMP2 HMP3 MAN1 MAN2 MAN3TAU1TAU2TAU3 10th 362
Complete New Zealand Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Main race 2010 ETEC Motorsport Tatuus TT104ZZ - Toyota 3rd 4th
Complete German Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Points 2011 Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara F306 Volkswagen OSC1 OSC2 SPA1 SPA2 SAC1 SAC2 ASS1 ASS2 ZOL1 ZOL2 RBR1 RBR2 LAU1 LAU2 ASS1 ASS2 HOC1 HOC2 1st 181
Complete Macau Grand Prix results Year Team Car Qualifying Quali Race Main race 2011 Van Amersfoort Racing Dallara F308 - Volkswagen 21st 15th DNF
Complete GP3 Series results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)