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Rick kelly
Rick Kelly has announced his retirement from full-time Supercars competition.
It ends 19 full Supercars seasons in a row, in which the Bathurst 1000 won twice, in 2003 and 2004, as well as the drivers’ championship in 2006.
Kelly will end his full-time Supercars career with 13 wins and 57 podiums to his name.
“As the 2020 season draws to a close, so is my full-time Supercar driving career,” Kelly said.
“First of all, I loved the opportunity to drive the Castrol-backed Ford Mustang in its first year with Kelly Racing.
“There were many challenges presented in 2020 with Covid and the Mustang program in its infancy at Kelly Racing, which has made results on the track difficult at times.
“It wasn’t the end of a fairy tale that I would have loved to date, but I have to get off the merry-go-round at some point and personally I feel like now is the right time.
“While you always want to win as a driver, externally your results on the track have the biggest influence on your report card and, as you would expect from any athlete, I will leave wanting more.
“But one thing is for sure, I will walk away satisfied that I have always done my best and never gave up, no matter how far apart we were.”
Kelly made his Supercar Championship debut in 2001 with the Kmart Racing Team alongside Nathan Pretty in the Queensland 500.
While that was Kelly’s official debut, he never raced after his Holden VX Commodore suffered a driveshaft failure on the warm-up lap.
His first race laps followed later that year with the same team in the V8 Supercar 1000 at Mount Panorama. Once again, along with Pretty, the Kmart duo ranked 14th.
Kelly joined the Holden Young Lions team in 2002 and held the position previously held by his older brother, Todd Kelly.
In what was his first full season, Kelly posted a season-best finish of third in the final race of three at Pukekohe Park finishing behind Todd Kelly and Larry Perkins.
That year he also finished fourth in just his second 1000km race with Pretty at Mount Panorama.
Kelly’s second full season in the championship saw him graduate from the Kmart Racing Team alongside Greg Murphy.
It was with the Kiwi that Kelly earned his first of two consecutive Bathurst 1000 victories.
For 2005, the Kmart Racing Team was renamed the HSV Dealer Team.
Kelly won the 2006 drivers’ championship over Craig Lowndes in a deciding match cut short at the end of the season at Phillip Island.
After winning what would be his only drivers’ championship, Kelly remained with the team until its closure in late 2008.
The 2009 season saw the Kellys go solo with the Kelly Racing lineup, which he still owns and operates with to this day.
The team’s first victory came in 2011 courtesy of Kelly at the Hamilton Street Circuit.
Between 2013 and 2018, the team functioned as Nissan’s factory team. The team continued to use the Nissan Altima platform that it had developed until 2019.
This year, the team downscaled its operations from a fleet of four-car Nissan Altima to a two-car Ford Mustang configuration.
Kelly drove # 15 alongside teammate Andre Heimgartner at # 7.
In his final full season in Supercars, Kelly achieved six top-10 finishes in a year of development for the team.
“Overall, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished as a team over the last decade,” Kelly said.
“We have worked tirelessly hard, working directly with three different manufacturers and representing some of the most recognizable brands in the world, and delivering some great shows off the track, from creating a talent scout television show to viewing images of our fans with us in Bathurst. “
“I would like to thank the Kelly Racing team and also congratulate each and every member of the team for what they have been able to offer this year. It has been nothing short of impressive.
“I would also like to thank all the previous team members that I have worked with over the last 20 years.
“I have worked with so many wonderful people in this sport. And many thanks to all the business partners who have supported me throughout my career, both past and present. “
