About TKR

New Zealand’s Premier “LK 500 Endurance Race” saw TKR win this exclusive title outright in the teams All Black NZ 2.0ltr Touring Car/Nissan Primera.

In doing so Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) beat not only all other 2.0ltr Touring Cars but also beat all V8 Touring Cars at the same time, making this achievement something very special.

TKR won the NZV8 Touring Car Championship and also finished in third position in the teams All Black Holden Commodores in the teams NZV8 Debut season. The first Holdens home for back to back seasons.

TKR not only won the NZ BMW MINI Challenge Championship in back-to-back seasons but the Kiwi team finishing in first and second positions on debut and first, second and third in the team’s second season.

TKR finished at the top of the table on debut in the BMW e46 Championship and also secured third position in the same season.

This saw TKR lock out two of the three podium positions at seasons end in the team’s debut BMW e46 Spec season.

The following season saw TKR have one of the teams BMW e46 320i Sedan written off in an unfortunate accident at the opening round of the season.

This resulted in TKR having to build a brand-new race car from scratch between rounds to ensure TKR could complete the season.

This saw TKR bounce back to secure third position at years end despite no points for the round that saw the TKR car written off and the pressure involved with not only building but financing the build of a new race car that was capable of running at the front of the Championship.

TKR finished on the Podium in the team’s debt season in the Australian V8 Supercar Development Series Championship. TKR finished third out of 42 cars for the season.

TKR debuted at Bathurst Mount Panorama, in October 2000, as the first ever international team and first ever New Zealand’s team to compete in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.

TKR finished 16th out of 53 starters on debut at Bathurst, Mount Panorama with TKR Drivers Jason Richards and Angus Fogg driving the TKR All Black Holden Commodore.

This achievement was even more impressive when you consider this was the Kiwi teams first race meeting in the Australian Supercars Championship and that both TKR Drivers had never raced at Bathurst or raced a V8 Supercar prior to this debut event. 

TKR followed this up in the following season proving that the 16th position finish on debut was not a fluke finishing 16th again at Bathurst in 2001.

TKR also finished on the Podium at the Canberra Street race with Jason Richards in the TKR All Black Machine.

TKR finished 4th at the Pukekohe Supercars meeting with Jason Richards.

TKR finished 11th at Bathurst in 2003.

TKR secured their first Australian V8 Supercars Pole position at Winton Raceway, thanks to an impressive qualifying effort by Craig Baird. An achievement that less than half the entire Australian V8 Supercars field had ever achieved at this time. 

TKR finished on the podium of the V8 Supercars Championship in China with Paul Radisich behind the wheel in the TKR All Black Holden Commodore.

TKR Finished in 4th position of the V8 Supercars Championship at Pukekohe with Paul Radisich behind the wheel of the TKR All Black Holden Commodore.

TKR Qualified in 4th position at the Adelaide Clipsal 500 thanks to a great qualifying effort by Paul Radisich in the TKR All Black Holden Commodore.

TKR Finished in 9th position at Bathurst, Mount Panorama.

TKR finished a high of 14th for the season in the Australian Supercars Championship out of 36 teams despite having one of the smallest if not the smallest budget of all teams in the Championship as a direct result of the NZ$ versus AU$ having up to 30 cents in the dollar exchange rate difference ($NZ Dollard being worth less than the $AUD) during the years TKR competed in the Australian V8 Supercars Championship.

In other words, every year TKR competed in the Australian Supercars Championship the Kiwi team had to find 30% more $$$$ just to be on the same playing field of the Australian teams due to the Kiwi dollar being worth less than the Aussie Dollar and all of TKR’s sponsorship funds being from Kiwi companies.

TKR lead the entire V8 Supercar race in Perth Western Australia from the very start of the race till the very last corner on the very last lap where the TKR machine was hit from behind and spun around within only meters of the start finish line. TKR was set to secure their first Australian V8 Supercars race win before this happened, however with TKR being spun out of first place the team eventually to finish this race in 6th position.  

TKR driver Paul Radisich was involved in a massive accident at Bathurst in the TKR Machine. An accident that Paul Radisich was lucky to walk away from.

This Bathurst accident also hurt the Kiwi team with the new TKR All Black Machine being a complete write off at a time when the team had just made a significant increase in investment into new car, new engine program, new key crew members and re-signing Paul Radisich at the start of the season. A season that was just starting to gel for TKR and show the benefits of investing so heavily both on and off track. 

TKR Changed to Ford after the Radisich accident and finalised a technical/customer deal with FPR that was designed to see the Kiwi team continue moving forward and up the Championship table.  

Paul Radisich returned to driving duties with TKR after his recovery, this time in the Ford.

The TKR and FPR relationship came to an early end after only a handful of races in-line with Radisich being critical of the engine performance from the FPR engines TKR had signed on to use for the season ahead.

Radisich himself then resigned from his driving duties with TKR in-line with TKR and FPR terminating their technical partnership. 

Radisich was replaced with Shane van Gisbergen in the TKR Ford and TKR entered a new technical/customer partnership with SBR to complete the season.

SVG debuted with Team Kiwi Racing at Oran Park in Sydney finishing as high as 13th on his debut weekend in the Supercars Championship.

TKR then secured a 888 Ford for the flowing season and took the team’s operations back in-house where Chris Pither was provided the drive at TKR for the season ahead and Craig Hasted was the teams new engine builder.

Pither was later involved with a significant crash at Bathurst which saw TKR having now taken two massive financial hits at the same track within 12 months of each other and setting the team’s progress back that they had made since the Radisch Bathurst crash.  

TKR secured a second 888 racecar to complete the season post the Pither Bathurst crash and honor our obligations under the team’s Supercars license agreement.

Kayne Scott joined TKR for the following season, but the partnership just did not fire which was unfortunate for all involved. after so much hard work had gone in by many at all levels.  

TKR returned back to Holden for the team’s final year in the Supercar Championship before entered a disappointing time early into the team’s final Supercar season that saw ANZ Bank facilitate the unnecessary downfall of the only New Zealand team in the Championship. A Kiwi team that had provided so many opportunities for Kiwi drivers and therefore the series over the Kiwi team’s time in the Australian Supercars Championship Series. 

The ANZ actions saw the bank call in a $250,000 loan facility they had provided to the Team Kiwi Racing business. A business loan that John had personally guaranteed, and that the business had ample assets to cover should the team have been provided time by the bank to sell down various assets in the business or cash up official team merchandise (of which TKR had $300,000 worth on hand at the time) and do so,  without the team falling foul of their Supercar License agreement/obligations. 

However, the ANZ bank refused to work with the team on a time plan to implement an action plan and despite the loan being a business loan to Team Kiwi Racing the ANZ bank did not pursue the business/Team Kiwi Racing but pursued David John personally for the loan.

With John having personally funded the entire Team Kiwi Racing set up and the short falls each year to keep providing the opportunities at TKR for Kiwi drivers in the Supercars Championship (which included putting the funds up personally to replace the Radisich car written off at Bathurst and Pither car the following year) the ANZ bank pounced to chase John personally straight after the Pither crash rather than the business who the money was loaned to and had all the assets in it that the security for the loan was against.  

Despite this the ANZ banks surprise actions to not work with Team Kiwi Racing on a plan that allowed TKR to get through to the end of the Championship season so TKR could have honored all their franchise license requirements and paid the loan out in a controlled manner, simply saw ANZ bring an end to Team Kiwi Racing being involved in the Supercars Championship.

The following dispute between David John and ANZ bank resulted in the annulment of the banks actions against Mr John with-in months of the banks actions. This highlighted that if the bank had simply worked with Team Kiwi Racing/David John through to years end (as they were requested to do by Team Kiwi Racing and David John) the ANZ bank would have had their funds repaid at years end and Team Kiwi Racing could have continued in the Supercars Championship.

The annulment of the bank’s actions within months of the ANZ’s underhanded tactics and the fact TKR has kept racing in various NZ Championship Series, the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia Championship along with providing on going Scholarship opportunities for Kiwi drivers all while the ANZ action was taking place and still does, not to mention TKR is in the process of rebuilding a number of the original Team Kiwi Racing race cars from over the last 24 years that David John has retained over the years , proves there were always ample assets to cover the $250,000 ANZ Bank loan and if only the bank had worked with Team Kiwi Racing  and or David John personally through to years end, as the ANZ bank was requested by Team Kiwi Racing and David John personally to do so but declined to do so, there just might still be a Kiwi team in the Supercars Championship today.

TKR were set to enter a Wildcard program in the Supercars Championship that would have seen the return of the Kiwi team to Bathurst, Mount Panorama and the Supercars Championship with the teams All Black trademark livery in 2021 but COVID put an end to such plans with Dunlop unable to supply the additional quantity of tires required for a Wildcard entry at Bathurst and the pre testing program tires required as a direct result of COVID.

Many highs and lows throughout the years for TKR in the Supercars Championship but all in all TKR gave it 100%, has provided so many opportunities for Kiwi drivers and crew over the last 24 years and is still doing so date.

A Kiwi Team with Kiwi Sponsors and Kiwi Crew for Kiwi Drivers. 

It is worth noting that despite a number of Kiwi drivers competing in the Supercars Championship today there is no Kiwi team competing in the Supercars Championship.

TKR is set to return to Bathurst, Mount Panorama again in 2025 to celebrate TKR’s 25th Anniversary since we debuted at this very track in November 2000 and do so in memory of the late Jason Richards.    

25 Years on and still KEEPING IT KIWI!

There are many other special achievements by TKR in the Australian Supercar Championship.

Keep an eye on this page as we continue to add additional key information and key TKR achievements.

Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) competed in the Australian Porsche Carrera Cup Championship where Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) secured the prestigious “Rookie Of The Year” title at the end of the team’s debut Australian Porsche Carrera Cup season, with a young Kiwi by the name of Andrea Heimgartner.

Team Kiwi Racing (TKR) also won multiple Australian Porsche Carrera Cup races, including at Bathurst, Mount Panorama.

Team Kiwi Racing won the Porsche Rennsport Reunion in the teams All Black GT3 Porsche Carrera Cup car on debut at this special event.

The Porsche Rennsport Reunions brings both the best local and international Porsche drivers together for some great racing, new Porsche vehicle reveals and the opportunity to see some of the rarest Porsche models ever made.