PremiAir Racing experienced a full spectrum of emotions on day one of the Melbourne SuperSprint at Albert Park today – opening Thursday with a session topping performance, then weathering a mechanical failure and a heavy crash, before rallying for solid performances in the first Supercars race of the four-day event.
The mixed feelings came right from the get-go – in practice one, Jayden Ojeda fired the #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro to the top of the time sheets with a commanding 1m 47.881s lap on new tyres from his rookie allocation, finishing the session 0.7368s clear. At the same time, Declan Fraser’s #777 PremiAir Racing Camaro came to a halt with an electrical issue.
Swift work from the team had Fraser back out for Practice 2, where he recorded the 22nd quickest time, however their workload was about to grow – while sitting P14, Ojeda made heavy contact with the turn 5 wall with nine minutes remaining, causing significant damage and ending the session early.
While Juice was thankfully uninjured, the extent of the damage and a tight 90-minute turnaround before back-to-back qualifying meant the #31 was ruled out of both sessions and would start Races 4 and 5 from the rear of the grid.
This left Fraser as the sole PremiAir Racing entry on the track for the intense qualifying format, with the #777 locking down starting positions of P21 and P20.
By the time Race 4 rolled around at 5.00pm, the PremiAir Racing garage was full of relieved faces, with the #31 fully repaired and ready to roll.
Starting from the back, Ojeda charged forward immediately, climbing to P16 by the time a lap 7 safety car neutralised the field. He would go on to hold this position through a frantic, time-certain run to the flag, delivering a solid recovery drive.
Fraser, meanwhile, battled a steering issue from the opening lap of Race 4 but did well to keep things tidy and bring the #777 home in P22.
QUOTEBOARD: MELBOURNE SUPERSPRINT AT THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX – THURSDAY 5 MARCH 2026
Jayden Ojeda – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
It was a bit of a rollercoaster day for us in the #31. We started off on a high note, quickest in Practice 1, and then hit the low point with the mistake in Practice 2, which created a lot of work for the team. Unfortunately, the damage meant we missed both qualifying sessions.
Huge thanks to the boys and girls — they did an awesome job getting the car repaired and back out for the race. To move forward and gain some spots after the day we’d had was actually a solid recovery effort. It might not look spectacular on paper, but considering everything, it was a good fight back.
After the restart, I would’ve loved to make up a few more positions, but it was tricky to follow in traffic, and I probably didn’t maximise that moment. Once I got stuck in the pack, it was hard to generate any more momentum.
Massive credit to the team, though they gave me a fast car after everything that happened earlier in the day.”
Declan Fraser – #777 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Practice felt pretty solid to start with. In qualifying, I made a couple of mistakes that put us further back than we should have been. We probably had pace to be starting in the low teens. That one’s on me, so there’s some work to do ahead of Saturday’s qualifying.
In the race, we didn’t get the launch we needed, and that put us on the back foot straight away. The car actually had good pace, and we were relatively strong through the middle stint, but with how the race unfolded, it was hard to move forward from where we were.
I need to do a better job understanding where we’re lacking at the start and make sure we’re sharper there. We’ll regroup, come back stronger, and next time I’ll be getting the elbows out and making sure we’re not giving anything away.”
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