The first two hours of on-track running for this year’s Great Race has seen PremiAir Racing off to a positive start, with the team and its drivers pleased with how the PremiAir Racing Camaros have rolled out and performed across the day.
Day one of the 2025 Bathurst 1000 opened with a 60-minute practice session for all drivers at 1.20pm, ahead of a further hour-long outing for the co-drivers only at 4.50pm.
Each session had its dramas, with a number of red flag periods in practice one and rain falling across practice two, but even so, PremiAir Racing was able to both take strong steps forward in its race preparation for the #31 and #62 PremiAir Racing Camaros across the day while also logging solid lap times, which has left the team smiling.
In practice one, a timing malfunction for Supercars saw the red flags flying early. Once that was rectified, the session resumed with 54 minutes on the clock, but just twenty minutes later, the session was again halted for a heavy crash for Chaz Mostert, who was thankfully unhurt.
The session resumed at 2.10pm with 20 minutes remaining, with both Jimmy Golding in the #31 and Richie Stanaway in the #62 pushing on to make sure they could close out the session strong.
In doing so, Golding ran as high as P5, while Richie had a best of P10, before closing out the session in P13 and P14 respectively – a result the team was happy with as they balanced finding pace, undergoing race runs and quali simulations with running through a long list of necessary preparations for both Camaros across the hour.
In practice two, things got off to a dry-ish start after plenty of earlier rain, before then becoming a primarily wet session.
While a lot of teams elected to spend more time in the pits than usual in those conditions, PremiAir Racing made the call to have their co-drivers David ‘D-Russ’ Russell in the #31 and Nash Morris in the #62 get as much wet running in as possible in light of the forecast weather conditions for Sunday.
As they did so, D-Russ impressed by setting the quickest lap time of the session with 41 minutes to go despite being in race trim at the time, before ultimately rounding out the hour second on the timing totem. Nash also put in solid times, sitting as high as P11 – where he finished out the on-track running for Thursday while also, alongside D-Russ, banking plenty of valuable wet weather running for the team which is sure to come in handy for informing Sunday’s decisions.
The Bathurst 1000 action continues Friday 10 October with practice three (10.05am – 60 minutes – all drivers) and practice four (1.05pm – 60 minutes – all drivers), ahead of qualifying at 4.10pm (40 minutes).
Saturday 11 October will then host practice five (10.05am – co-drivers only – 60 minutes) and practice six (1.10pm – 60 minutes – all drivers), before the Top Ten Shootout at 5.05pm (45 minutes); before Sunday (12 October) brings the Great Race itself – following a 20 minute warm-up at 8.30am, the flag will drop for 1000km and 161 laps of incredible racing at 11.45am. Please note – all times local (AEDT).
For full event and scheduling information, visit www.supercars.com
For exclusive team insights and updates as well as live session coverage as the weekend unfolds, be sure to keep a close eye on the PremiAirR Acing WhatsApp Channel, which is proudly presented by Air & Allied Sales. To join, visit https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaEGGiJ2kNFlJu5eeo1H
QUOTEBOARD: BATHURST 1000, THURSDAY 9 OCTOBER 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“It was an interesting day. I think we rolled out with two good cars, our main drivers in practice one for half of the session were in the top five, top ten easily and quite happy with the car too. #31 focused on a race run and we did a quali sim on #62 at the end – it was not very successful in terms of timing and this and that, but the car was good and both cars we are positively good, so I am happy with that. The drivers are happy and we know the direction, we wanted a bit more front, so we go there, both of them confirmed. The afternoon session for the co-drivers, we started just dry and had probably 10 minutes of dry time and both of the drivers did a good job. D-Russ also did the second (quickest) lap time, which is pretty impressive as we didn’t really try as it was a race car, but a 2.07 was fast. Nash did a good job, a solid job, and then the rain came. We didn’t stop really, we came in and put some wets on, and we went back out and ran in the rain to the end as it could rain Sunday so there is always something to learn, whether that is pressure, tyre wear, or whichever. For 10-15 minutes we were the only two cars on track. It was a positive day, we just need to carry on and dig deeper, and make sure we keep focusing. It is a positive start and I am happy for that; we can smile tonight.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was a good day. The car is straight and that was the main goal for today. We got plenty of laps and the car feels pretty solid to start with. Obviously, it is sort of a bit hard to tell where everyone sits in terms of fuel loads and all that sort of jazz at this point of things, but so far so good. We are feeling pretty comfortable with the car, which is the main thing. Tomorrow we will probably do a little bit of race simulation to begin with in the morning session, and also make sure we get a read on where the track is at relative to today and get a baseline there. Then obviously towards the end we’ll be looking at one lap pace. But I think generally it has rolled out of the truck good and I think it is going to be good in both circumstances, race and quali.”
David Russell – co-driver, #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was a tricky session (the co-driver session). But you know what, it is good to experience that, to be in the car in both kinds of conditions. From my point of view, it was good to be able to get a read on the car in the dry and the wet, so I can give the team some feedback and start tuning things for the wet based on the forecast as there could be some weather come Sunday after lunch. So, it is important for us to have that, to be able to make some changes, get a read on the car, have a look at the data and know what we might be able to do for the race. Because if it starts raining these cars aren’t the sort of thing where you just bolt the wet tyre on and it is going to work. Most of the time you’re going to have to do a bit of tuning.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was a good first day, the car was really nice from the get-go which can be challenging here to roll out strong. We have been a little conservative with our tyre bank, which is good for later in the weekend. We could have thrown some tyres at it but we didn’t so we will have some good tyres for later in the week. Nash got through his session well and the driver changes have been really good, so it has been a good day.”
Nash Morris – co-driver, #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Yeah, it was a good day. The conditions were pretty treacherous out there, but we managed to get a few dry laps in. I learned a lot about the new wet tyre compared to the hard tyre we run in Super2. I kept it off the fence, which I’m pretty happy with — it was pretty tough out there, but good fun! I’m really looking forward to getting back out there tomorrow.”
View all the latest photos from PremiAir Racing at the Bathurst 1000 in the gallery link below — updated right through the weekend.
For exclusive team insights and updates as well as live session coverage as the weekend unfolds, be sure to keep a close eye on the PremiAirR Acing WhatsApp Channel, which is proudly presented by Air & Allied Sales. To join, visit https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaEGGiJ2kNFlJu5eeo1H
For more information on PremiAir Racing, please visit www.premiairracing.com or follow the team on its social media platforms at www.facebook.com/PremiAirRacing/, www.instagram.com/premiair_racing/, www.linkedin.com/company/premiairracing/ and www.x.com/premiairracing