Following that came a brief foray into kart racing prior to making his formula car debut in 2007 after being selected for the New Zealand SpeedSport Scholarship.

Stanaway then made the jump to the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship with Hamilton-based, debutant team TSR Racing alongside team-mate Martin Short.

In July 2009 Stanaway took up a testing opportunity at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz with Ma-Con Motorsport, a German team competing in the ADAC Formula Masters Championship.

The test was organised by Tauranga businessman Maurice O' Reilly, a past investor of New Zealand Indy 500 winner, and Indycar series champion Scott Dixon.

The required budget was raised through a group of investors and on 22 August 2009 Richie made his European debut at the famous Nürburgring circuit.

During the six races, he scored two pole positions and numerous podium finishes, and following the signing of a management contract with RRT Holdings, headed by businessman Martin Reiss, the decision was made to return to contest the full ADAC Formula Masters Championship in 2010.

He replaced Pedro Nunes for the remainder of the 2011 GP3 Series season with the pace-setters, Lotus ART, he will begin at the penultimate round of the championship in Belgium.

[2] He made his Supercars debut for Super Black Racing in 2016, co-driving with Chris Pither in the Pirtek Enduro Cup series.

The idea gained massive fan support, helping to convince Stanaway and Murphy to return for the first time since 2019 and 2014 respectively.