Stanaway Supercars interest ‘no surprise’ to Prodrive

While Stanaway has made no secret of his interest in Supercars since inking his first co-driver deal with the Prodrive-run Super Black outfit last year, he’s recently taken the search for a full-time seat in the Aussie series to a new level by confirming he has no plans to return to Europe this season or next.

According to PRA boss Edwards none of that has come to any surprise to his team, which is gearing up to run Stanaway at Sandown, Bathurst, and on the Gold Coast for a second year in a row, this time alongside Cam Waters.

“His comments that became public were no surprise to us,” Edwards told Motorsport.com.

“I knew Richie back when he was doing Formula Ford, and I’ve tracked his career and kept tabs on him – so when we were reacquainted last year, I knew that this is where he wanted to be long-term.”

Given the pre-existing relationship with PRA, Stanaway has already been linked to a potential vacancy in the team’s fourth car next season should Jason Bright decide to step back from full-time duties.

But Edwards won’t be drawn into speculation about driver movements: “We have an agreement with Jason, as we do with all of our drivers. So I’m not likely to be talking about what we’re doing in the future, whether it’s next year or further in the future.

“When we’re ready to say something about all of those things we’ll make the appropriate statement.”

Edwards did however admit that Stanaway is the kind of talent that fits the driver development model at PRA.

“We’ve said it multiple time, we try and invest in talent and bring new people through, rather than just going window shopping,” he said.

“I think you reap what you sow; growing someone with the team, and they appreciate what they’ve got, and they know the way we work, and we know the way they work – you grow together, and hopefully it ends up with a positive result. And we’ve had a couple of great success stories with Chaz [Moster] and Cam.

“Hopefully that will continue into the future.”