By now you will have probably heard that Rick Kelly is stepping down from his full-time driving commitments in Supercars. After competing in Supercars for 20 consecutive seasons, and achieving so much over those years, it certainly wasn’t an easy decision for him to make however I believe he can be proud of the extremely successful career he has had in Supercars.
Many drivers come and go in Supercars and don’t achieve half the things that Rick has been able to do. He’s won the Bathurst 1000 twice, won a V8 Supercar Championship title, stood on the podium 57 times - thirteen of them on the top step as a race winner. He has had a career that many would be envious of.
Rick is also one of the most well-respected drivers in pit lane both on and off the track and his engagement with the fans and sponsors has without a doubt been one of the driving forces behind the commercial success of our team, Kelly Racing. His breadth of talent outside of the race car has been really valuable – everything from being able to sticker his own car before a race meeting to filming his epic road trips and presenting on TV for the thousands of fans that enjoy our sport.
Rick has also been an outstanding mentor to the many young drivers that have been his team mates over the years. His knowledge and understanding of the sport from a competitive and commercial aspect has been a great asset that has helped several up-and-coming drivers that are currently competing in Supercars, in particular his team mate André Heimgartner.
We now have a big task to fill Rick’s seat with a new driver which will certainly be challenging but it’s also quite exciting as it will give Kelly Racing a completely different dynamic heading into the 2021 season.
The entire team at Kelly Racing will miss having Rick at the race track. We wish him all the best with his future and thank him for the great memories he has given us over the years.