Australia and New Zealand have a long-running sibling rivalry - we love to knock each other but when it comes to conflict we back each other up - and that extends to the racetrack.
Australian touring car racing is littered with great Kiwi talents and with the Supercars series headed to Pukekohe Raceway this weekend, we’re looking back and picking the best drivers from ‘across the ditch’.
5. Steven Richards
His inclusion on this list may be a surprise to some, because he doesn’t speak with a Kiwi accent and has spent his entire career racing in Australia. But Richo Jr was born in Auckland and comes from New Zealand racing royalty (more on that below) and has had a sneaky-great career.
He never won a championship but his consistent performances throughout his career earned him the nickname ‘The Accumulator’ at one point. He raced with Garry Rogers Motorsport, Gibson Motorsport, Ford Tickford Racing, Perkins Engineering and Ford Performance Racing throughout his long career, accumulating 12 race wins.
But what really makes his career special and earns him fifth spot on our list are his performance on the biggest stage - the Bathurst 1000. He won The Great Race five times - 1998, ‘98, 2013, ‘15 and ‘18 - and finished second twice (including sharing his GRM Holden with his dad in ‘97).
No matter which way you look at it, that’s a remarkable career record and a worthy member of our quintet.
4. Greg Murphy
That he never won a local touring car title speaks more to the depth of competition than any lack of talent on Murphy's part.
Racing against the likes of Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose and Craig Lowndes, Murphy was arguably the fastest driver on the track - not the most complete, but he had raw pace like few of his peers. If you want proof, look no further than his now iconic 'Lap of the Gods' in Bathurst qualifying.
There were great expectations on him when he entered the ATCC full-time in '97, replacing Lowndes as the Holden Racing Team's new 'young gun' alongside Brock. He’d already won the Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000 alongside Lowndes in ‘96, but in hindsight too much was expected too quickly from ‘Murph’.
When HRT dropped him in favour of Skaife for the ‘99 season, Murphy revived his career at Gibson Motorsport by winning his second Bathurst 1000. By 2001 Holden and the team behind HRT realised his potential - both behind the wheel and in the NZ car market where he was a hero - and had him lead its new Kmart-backed sister team.
It was during this era that Murphy really excelled, winning Bathurst in ‘03 and ‘04 in dominant fashion and claiming runner-up in ‘02 and ‘03 championships.
His career began to slip after that as he moved to Paul Weel Racing, Tasman Motorsport and eventually Kelly Racing, but he always remained a threat to win at Bathurst. In fact, between 2007 and ‘11 he claimed two more Bathurst podiums and never finished lower than sixth.
That’s why only a fool would discount Murphy returning to the podium in his wildcard return in 2022 with Richie Stanaway.
3. Shane van Gisbergen
In 2022 the question isn’t if van Gisbergen will win another Supercars title - it’s how many will he win? At the time of publication he’s 33-years-old and has emerged as the driver to beat in the post-Jamie Whincup/Scott McLaughlin era.
He’s the dominant driver with the best team and that means he can seemingly win with ease, or at least he will until a new challenger emerges. But until that happens he’s going to keep raking up the numbers, with 70 race wins and counting and a third championship all-but-secured.
Not that it was always this way and not to suggest he only wins because he has the best car - far from it. He was another teenage prodigy that was originally seen as the long-awaited replacement for Marcos Ambrose at Stone Brothers Racing, only for him to leave and make his mark with the small Tekno Autosports team.
It was during this time that van Gisbergen really shone, especially when the track got wet. He has emerged as his generation’s unquestioned ‘rain master’.
If there’s a question mark over his career it’s the fact that both Whincup and McLaughlin seemed to get the better of him when they shared the track; although he did win his first title in 2016, beating Whincup in the same equipment.
Still, all he can do now is beat whoever is on-track with him - and that appears to be little challenge for ‘SVG’ at the moment.
2. Scott McLaughlin
He came. He saw. He conquered. He left.
The Kiwi sensation raced in Supercars for just eight full-seasons but in that time won three championships, one Bathurst 1000, 56 races and claimed 76 pole positions. And he did it all before the age of 27.
McLaughlin is now making a second career for himself in US Indycar racing, but that’s only possible because he made his mark in Australian touring car competition at such a young age. He had his first test of a Supercar (a Stone Brothers Racing Ford Falcon BF) at just 16 and three years later he had won the Dunlop V8 Supercars Series.
This catapulted him into a full-time seat with Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2013 and he immediately impressed, finishing 10th in the standings in his rookie season. It was GRM’s switch to the Volvo S60 in ‘14 that really made McLaughlin’s reputation.
He was third in the championship in ‘16 and caught the eye of US racing giant, Roger Penske, who signed up the young Kiwi to lead his attack on Australian motorsport. The combination of McLaughlin, DJR-Team Penske and Ford proved unbeatable, winning three consecutive championships in ‘18, ‘19 and ‘20. Penske left Supercars after that season and decided McLaughlin was too good to be left behind, taking him to the US for his new open-wheeler career.
But that means he has almost certainly missed his opportunity to rack up numerous more championships, possibly even a record eight or more, because he had both time and talent on his side. The fact he made himself a Supercars legend in just eight seasons is proof he really is one of New Zealand’s finest exports.
1. Jim Richards
If there's any recency-bias for van Gisbergen and McLaughlin, the only bias towards 'Gentleman Jim' is his overwhelming and seemingly never-ending talent.
There are any number of stats we could talk about to explain his greatness - four ATCC titles, seven Bathurst 1000 wins and 23 race wins - but perhaps the moment that best sums him up came during Bathurst qualifying in 2005.
That year, amid a field filled with young, hungry drivers (including his co-driver, James Courtney) a 58-year-old Richards qualified the second HRT entry inside the top 10. It was a remarkable performance that was a testament to both his speed and his longevity, with Richards seemingly ageing like a fine wine, rather than fading like so many of his peers.
His other amazing trait was an ability to adapt and master anything he drove. From his early days driving a Group C Holden Torana, through the Group A days with BMW and its nimble M3 and then Nissan and its twin-turbo, all-wheel drive Skyline GT-R and then finally into the V8 Supercars era, Richards was equally quick in all of them.
And we’re not even considering all of his extra-circular racing he did throughout his career, which included wins in events as diverse as the Targa Tasmania road rally and driving NASCARs at the Thunderdome.
What we did take into consideration though, was the impact Richards’ success in Australia had on both sides of the Tasman. He demonstrated to Australians that Kiwis could race hard and fast on our track and he showed the following generations of young New Zealand drivers that you could have a thriving career in Australian touring car racing.
Honourable mentions
Robbie Francivic was arguably the unluckiest driver on our list, only narrowly missing our top five cut. Ultimately he was a shooting star across the Australian touring car scene, arriving in 1985 with his Volvo 240T and immediately winning races and then coming back in ‘86 to claim the championship.
Perhaps if he hadn’t been fired by the Volvo Dealer Team before the end of the ‘86 season or if he’d found another full-time Aussie drive during the Group A era he might have won more races, maybe another title and locked in a spot on our list. But as it is, he holds the distinction of being the only New Zealand resident to win the Australian Touring Car Championship (because he commuted to each race from his Auckland home) - a remarkable feat unlikely to be repeated.
Paul Radisich was also an unlucky omission, with ‘The Rat’ having a long and impressive career in Australia but ultimately his greatest successes came on the world stage.
Radisch won the 1993 and ‘94 Touring Car World Cup races in Super Touring-specification Ford Mondeos and he competed in the British Touring Car Championship through much of the 1990s. But having flirted with Australian tin-tops with endurance race drivers with Dick Johnson Racing in the early ‘90s, he eventually made the full-time switch to race down under with DJR in 1999.
He was quick and flamboyant but only managed three race wins before moving through a series of teams and ending his primary driving career with Team Kiwi Racing in 2007.
Fabian Coulthard was another Kiwi under consideration and while he has notched up 13 race wins, he had the misfortune of driving alongside McLaughlin who simply out-shone him in the same equipment. Still, he has enjoyed an impressive Supercars run and will line-up as a pre-race favourite for the 2022 Bathurst 1000 alongside defending race winner, Chaz Mostert, so Coulthard’s story isn’t over yet.
Jason Richards may have eventually earned a spot on our list, but tragically cancer cut his life and Supercars career short. A popular figure in the paddock, Richards only won one race during his time in the sport but notched three runner-up finishes at Bathurst, which suggests a victory was more a case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ based on his talent.
Fittingly the winner at Pukekohe this weekend will lift the Jason Richards Memorial Trophy, reminding everyone in the sport of this remarkable man.
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