It is safe to say that The Bend 500 did not go the way that PremiAir Racing had envisaged, with a combination of bad luck and small mistakes combining to undermine a return to strong car pace for both PremiAir Racing Camaros.
Co-drivers Nash Morris (#62, with Richie Stanaway) and David Russell (#31, with Jimmy Golding) started the race from P19 and P22 respectively, with both putting in a strong display in the opening lap to climb a number of positions right off the bat.
Morris went from P19 to P14 but was then forced to the pit lane with a lap one right rear puncture, scuppering the progress he had made and sending him to the back of the field.
‘D-Russ’ meanwhile was charging ahead, climbing eight positions to P14 by the second lap, before receiving a five second penalty for opening lap contact with car 96, which was served at the first pit stop.
Russell pushed on to make up as much time on track as he could before that stop, eventually heading into the pits for the first time on lap 18 from 14th position, resuming 25th. Morris meanwhile stopped for his first regular pit stop on lap 27, having climbed back to 14th position as the rest of the field undertook their pit stops when originally scheduled.
Back on the track, both drivers pushed hard through their second stints to the race’s mid-point, where they would hand over to Golding (#31, on lap 46) and Stanaway (#62, on lap 48) – with the main drivers ready to take the PremiAir Racing Camaros the rest of the way home.
With both cars feeling pacey, Golding and Stanaway got to work, but the problems for the team were not yet over – especially for the #31, with two trips through the grass, a spin (for which the other driver involved was penalised), and a pit lane penalty which was incurred when Golding accidentally hit the pit lane speed limiter button off before the end of the lane as he made his way into the race for the first time.
Even so, they kept their heads down and did what they could to finish the race, log valuable data, and claw back what time they could – eventually crossing the line in P23 (Stanaway/Norris) and P25 (Golding/Russell).
While obviously disappointed in the result, the drivers and team were quick to point to the positives – in particular car pace and strong pit stops – and expressed a desire to get to work preparing for ‘the big one,’ October’s Bathurst 1000 (October 9-12). For information on that event, go to www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: THE BEND 500, SUNDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“The pace on the cars was good, which is a positive. The co-drivers were doing okay; the main drivers were doing good. I think in terms of pace, we were in the window you know of top 15, top 10. At one stage we were actually really fast. But, yeah a PLP on one car, a flat tyre on the first lap (on the other), a bit of delamination on lap 20-something….we went twice through the grass on #31, and that costs every time another 10, another 10, another 40 seconds in pit lane…so at some stage you end up background, and that is where we were. Our result is poor because there are too many little mistakes which are costing every time, 20 seconds, 40 seconds, and etc etc…it is an accumulation, and both cars had a bit of that unfortunately. Early on it was #62, and then later on, we were doing a good job for #31, then we had a five second penalty for an incident around the start on the first lap which put us a bit on the backfoot on car #31 but after we then get a PLP on the change of driver then that is very expensive, and it is actually probably close to the 40 second drop, so you have lost five seconds and then 40 seconds, so you have lost 45 seconds just there, boom already, and we started from the back already because we were in P19 and P22 (after qualifying). So, it is a difficult weekend in that respect. As I said, we look at the pace and we think ‘hmmm, we could have done something,’ but there is lots of things we need to do better. However, our pit stops were smart, good, organised, good on the fuel and good on what we need to be doing. And I don’t think we made any strategy mistakes, we didn’t try the impossible of a four-stopper and we stayed simple in our task, and that would have put us in the ten to twelve/thirteen on the track and that would have been acceptable, but that wasn’t to be.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“I am really sorry to the whole team, ultimately the mistake was mine with the pit speed, it was just an honest mistake, I accidentally hit the button – I wasn’t trying to get an advantage of anything, it was just a clear mistake. So, really disappointing – obviously we had a lot of other things that didn’t go our way as well, the penalty with D-Russ, and a few other bits and bobs, so it wasn’t our day but ultimately, that kind of really ruined the result, so I am really sorry to the whole team. The car did feel a lot better, I think we were a lot more competitive than we what were the whole weekend, so thanks to the boys for tuning it up and giving us a better car today. But yeah, disappointing, glad to get the whole weekend in, all the laps in, finish everything, just now got to go through and knuckle down and work out what we need to come out swinging at Bathurst.”
David Russell – co-driver, #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“We can take some positives – good mileage obviously heading into Bathurst, I now have had some good stints under my belt, we made up quite a few spots which was really good and positive. I was looking at cars that were a lot faster than us earlier in the weekend and we were in there racing them and we were matching them so that was really positive. I think on a day like today where a couple of little things go wrong, it just shows how you have to execute, to get the results in these races in Supercars you have to execute everything perfectly, you can’t have any mistakes as a driver, as a pit crew, or anything – everything has to go your way to get the result. We will no doubt regroup and we need to find that pace that we sort of didn’t roll out with at the start of the weekend. We have sort of been on the backfoot a little bit… we didn’t have track position on our side and were sort of down the back and trying to work our way forward. I can see where I thought we would end up without all that but that is all hindsight now. So now we roll the sleeves up and get cracking and get focused on Bathurst.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“I was hoping for a safety car after the puncture on the right rear but unfortunately we never got it. But we actually had pretty good pace, sort of top eight pace for most of the race and the car felt really good, just unfortunately a bit out of position and had a fair bit of dirty air from the car in front for the last half of the last stint, but we were trucking along pretty decent there and made up some time towards the end and I was quite enjoying driving the car. The tyres hung in a little better than I probably thought they were going to, and with the fuel burning off and the truck rubbering up, the car was feeling pretty good at the end. Not the day we wanted but there are some positives to take away. We will see what we can learn from the weekend and push forward for the big one in a few weeks.”
Nash Morris – co-driver, #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“I had a pretty good start there and got a couple of positions off the start up to 14th and then had a right rear flat, so I had to pit, making another stop than we were wanting to. I pretty much just tried to stay out of trouble from there until I handed it over to Richie. The car was good and it was good to see Richie clawing some time back in the late stages there, and I am looking forward to getting back out there with the team for Bathurst.”
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