The son of five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steven and grandson of seven-time Great Race champion, Jim, will put the famous Richards name on the window of a Melbourne Performance Centre run Audi RS 3 LMS TCR.
He steps up in place of Will Brown, with the Erebus Motorsport Supercars star currently in America.
The colours Clay Richards will carry on TCR debut at Winton this weekend.
Although former TCR title winner Brown is missing, Richards, plus Zac Soutar, Lachlan Mineeff and Iain McDougall ensure Audi will still be strongly represented at the nation’s “action track”.
Richards will make his debut in round three of the 2023 season at Winton, with the series having already contested events at Tasmania and Phillip Island.
The #4 machine will standout on track with a clean white and green livery, which marks a change to the schemes the youngster has raced in the past.
Having raced in the one-make Toyota 86 Series lately collecting a win and three podiums last year, Richards is looking forward to the TCR challenge ahead and hopes to be as consistent as possible.
“This is a great opportunity for me to taste TCR racing for the first time,” Richards said.
Clay Richards hopes to keep his new-look Audi unscathed on TCR debut this weekend at Winton.
“It’s a whole new experience for me with front-wheel-drive race cars, racing against lots of drivers with plenty of experience in the category and with these cars.
“My aims for the weekend are simple; to be consistent, continue learning every time I go on the track and clock up plenty of laps across the event.
“Naturally, I’m hoping this weekend is something we can build upon for the future.”
To prepare for the new challenge, Richards has already completed two days of testing in the Audi at Winton last week,
With one day staged in the wet and the other in the dry, he is up to speed with any conditions that are thrown at him.
Richards’ first on track session will be Friday practice before qualifying and the opening race are held on Saturday and the final two sprints are staged on Sunday.
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