Steve Richards steps out

Richards, 38, is one of the most experienced drivers in the category, having started in 1996, and he is particularly good at long-distance races, such as the Melbourne 500 and Bathurst 1000.

Driving for Ford Performance Racing, he has not had good success over the past few years, yet took second place in the final race of the 2010 season, in Sydney, last week.

”By no means is this … retiring from driving fulltime in the V8 Supercar Championship,” he stressed yesterday. Who knows what lies beyond 2011.”

He said he would be evaluating opportunities to be a co-driver at the endurance races next year.

Richards was 1994 Australian Formula Ford Champion and is the only driver to have won the Bathurst 1000 in successive years driving different brands of car in 1998 in a Ford then in 1999 in a Holden. He has six podium finishes at Bathurst.

Richards will believe he is not too old to remain a racer: his father Jim Richards won the Bathurst 1000 at age 53.

His departure from FPR leaves a seat vacant possibly for Will Davison who has left rival Holden Racing Team.