Solid But Not Enough says Richards

Eleventh place in the opening round of the BNT V8s was not enough for Hamilton driver Simon Richards who knows he can do better in rounds to come.

A tough qualifying session setting just the 14th fastest time put Richards under pressure for race one and the weekend.

"That can set the scene for the whole weekend, I need to be in that top 10 in qualifying, not being in there is just making it difficult for myself." he said.

In the opening race of the season Richards was going to have to overcome the midfield grid placing and make his way up the field.

A hard fought battle moved him from 14th place into 10th by the finish and an improved slot for the next race later in the day.

Richards suffered a struggle for pace in the second race of the day but was able to counter that with a loss of just one spot eventually bringing the SEW Eurodrive Ford across the line in 11th.

In the final race of the weekend where there was an opportunity to make things right not all went according to plan.

The driver from the Waikato suffered a mishap and loss of position midway through the race which unfortunately made a significant impact on his weekend's turnaround and overall results.

"It was disappointing that the last race wasn't that great. I had some brake fade down the end of the back straight and lost a huge amount of places and ended up near the back." said Richards.

Dropping down to 13th place by the end of the race those loss of positions and points lost made it impossible for Richards to achieve the weekend's target to be tucked inside the top 10 before heading to the South Island in just over two weeks.

"We had a solid weekend I guess but we need to be having excellent weekends every time to be where we want to be. We just have to do a good job at Ruapuna. I love it there so it should be a good one." he said.

With another six rounds remaining in the season there is a long way to go for Richards and the team and they are attacking from what is still a solid place in the standings.

Last season they were inside the top 10 for the start of and majority of the season and this year aim to improve on their final standing of 14th.

The second round of the BNT V8s is at Powerbuilt International Raceway, Ruapuna near Christchurch held on the weekend of 27-28th November.

Testing, qualifying and top 10 shootout are on the Saturday with all three races to be run on Sunday and televised on TV3 on the same day.