DAVID Cauchi admits his view of the legal battle that soured his start to life after Triple Eight in the Supercars pitlane has softened as the years have passed.
Cauchi spent 14 years at Triple Eight in a tenure that included him race engineering Jamie Whincup and Shane van Gisbergen to drivers’ championships.
But as he explained on the V8 Sleuth Podcast, ambition burned to ascend the ranks and the opportunity to do so just wasn’t available at Banyo.
Hence conversations that led to him becoming team principal at Grove Racing for season 2022.
“I’m probably never going to be a team owner, so having the backing of the owners to run the team as team principal, that was as good as I was going to get,” he explained to host Aaron Noonan.
The problem was that a bitter dispute would arise regarding when exactly Cauchi could begin his Grove chapter.
Triple Eight had expected its standard six-month gardening leave clause to be served, so when Cauchi turned up at Grove Racing’s pre-season Winton test in February 2022, eyebrows were raised.
That escalated come the Sydney season-opener when Triple Eight announced it would be launching legal action.
“It got messy,” Cauchi confessed.
“At the time it was really tough, I didn’t agree with everything that was going on. It was a tough time to go through,” he then elaborated.
“I didn’t think it was fair to not be able to work for six months, not earn money for six months, and the fact that I was going to a different role as team principal as opposed to race engineering, and they knew what I was doing…
“But in the end, today I view it all… sometimes these things just happen. It’s business.
“It hurt the relationship for a little bit between Jamie (Whincup) and I, which that was the saddest thing, because business is business but Jamie and I were great friends and had had great success together and done lots of stuff together.
“I’m happy to say that nowadays we’re great friends and will be forever.”
Cauchi noted “the only people that won out of that were lawyers who made a lot of money” but reiterated his acceptance with it being part and parcel of the business world.
Fast forward four years and Cauchi’s next move is currently a point of interest after recently finishing his stint with the Groves in style, leading the team to a Bathurst 1000 victory and grand final berth last year.