Landmark for Richo

Frosty and Richo 3rd in practice

Celebrations for Steve Richards' landmark 150th V8 Supercar Championship Series start began well today as Ford Performance Racing registered the third quickest time in practice at Bathurst.

The location of this historic occasion is fitting as Mount Panorama has figured large in Richo's motorsport and family life, with him attending most years with his father Jim since he was a young boy.

'I'm just happy to be back here driving a car around,' said the Castrol FPR Falcon driver. 'I'm rapt to have made 150 starts but all I think about is doing as well as I possibly can at the next round. I would like to think I could do another 150; we'll see!'

In practice Richo and team-mate Mark Winterbottom posted the third quickest time, and believe changes overnight will see them plug the gap to 888's Jamie Whincup who was fastest.

Dean Canto and Luke Youlden, meanwhile, were 18th in the Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon.

Tomorrow's practice starts at 9.20am.

Mark Winterbottom Castrol FPR Falcon
'I had a bit of a run there at the end and got a pretty good time. We've made some improvements on the car but it's going to be a busy night tonight; we'll get it right and come back tomorrow.'

Steve Richards Castrol FPR Falcon
'From my perspective we concentrated more on heavy fuel performance. I'm very happy with where the car is; it seems to be very competitive. We had a set programme of things to run through; if everything had gone right we could have been fastest but we're still reasonably happy to be where we are.'

Dean Canto Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon
'We were just struggling a little bit with tyre wear on the old rubber; then we went on greens and immediately picked up two seconds! I think, if we'd strung it all together, we would have been easily in the top ten.'

Supercheap Auto 1000 - 2008 V8 Supercar Championship Rd10 Mount Panorama - Bathurst PRACTICE
1. Lowndes / Whincup, 888, 2:07.5975
2. Murphy / J.Richards, Tasman, +0.1967
3. S.Richards / Winterbottom, Castrol FPR Falcon, +0.5436
4. R.Kelly / P.Radisich, TWR, +0.5731
5. Ingall / Morris, PMM, +0.5950
6. Luff / Owen, DJR, +0.7319
18. Canto / Youlden, Orrcon Steel Ford Credit FPR Falcon, +1.8610