Supercars Rumor: Series will try to lure Ricciardo back to Australia
Daniel Ricciardo has expressed interest in trying NASCAR, but the Australian Supercars Series says it wants him to race back home, where he is super popular and has the support of his family.
However, Ricciardo’s girlfriend, Heidi Berger who is studying at NY University, lives in the USA and Daniel loves the USA.
Supercars has confirmed it plans to reach out to former F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo “at the right time” to inquire about his interest in joining the Australian series.
Speaking at the Bathurst 1000 launch on Monday, Supercars chief executive Shane Howard said the series would welcome Ricciardo with “open arms” should he be interested in joining the grid. He also flagged that Ricciardo could be lured by Supercars’ plans to add a Perth street circuit in 2026.
“I think everyone would welcome Daniel with open arms, absolutely,” Howard told News Corp.
“Would we like to see Daniel Ricciardo in a Supercar? 100 percent.
“Just imagine if he could be in one of our cars and race in a new street race in Perth, that would be something special, wouldn’t it?
“It would be absolutely massive. He is such an incredible driver and such an incredible personality, and people just absolutely love him.
“Imagine him racing at Bathurst, wow. That would be very cool indeed.”
Howard continued: “At an appropriate time we would reach out to Daniel and his management.
“Obviously, he has got a lot going on, and we respect that.
“Blake Friend in his management team used to work for us (at Supercars).
“At the right time, we would reach out, but we would certainly like to have him in one of our cars, 100 percent we would.”
Ricciardo has previously sampled Supercar machinery for promotional runs, trying his hand at Calder Park ahead of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix.
“Obviously, it’s the V8 that do the race there (Bathurst), but you know there’s the 12 hour and stuff so maybe that’s one I could compete in,” Ricciardo said in an interview with Tourism Western Australia earlier this month.
“If a V8 team said, ‘Hey, do you want to do a few laps around Bathurst, no pressure, just to experience it,’ then I’ll definitely take that up.”