Trophy defence off to winning start for Team BOC in New Zealand

Jason Bright and Team BOC kicked off their defence of the Jason Richards Trophy today at Pukekohe in New Zealand in the best possible way with a victory in race one.

The Team BOC VF Commodore was strong right out of the blocks and Bright secured pole for the first of the four races that make up round four of the V8 Supercar championship.

Bright was jumped at the start of the 100km race by Red Bull's Jamie Whincup but the reigning series champ didn't last long - a power steering failure sending him into the pits early for lengthy repairs.

Thereafter, Bright controlled the race from the front, managing the gap to Tekno's Shane Van Gisbergen and Red Bull's Craig Lowndes to perfection and scoring a comfortable victory.

Bright won the inaugural Jason Richards Trophy last year, honouring his former team mate and Team BOC driver who passed away in 2011 after a brave battle with cancer.

Winning race one is a step to regaining the Trophy that means so much to everyone at Team BOC.

Jason Bright

"It's been a cracker of a day. With very limited running it felt pretty wild in qualifying. I'm sure everyone was struggling with their cars. We had a great car for the race. Jamie looked like he was struggling early on and we latched on to him pretty quickly, then his car broke. When he was out of the way it was just about maintaining the gap to Shane, which we were able to do. Last year winning the trophy was very special. Coming here this year there's a little less pressure because of last year's win but we still want the trophy to come back to Albury for sure. It's been a tough start to the year but I knew if we could qualify up front we could have a good weekend. It's a good start."

Race two and three of the four races that comprise round 4 will take place tomorrow at 2:05 and 4:05 local time.

Team BOC