PremiAir Racing is hoping that it will be a case of ‘Sunday Funday’ tomorrow at the Darwin Triple Crown after a character-building Saturday at the Darwin Triple Crown.
In qualifying for race 17, neither the #31 (Jimmy Golding) or #62 (Richie Stanaway) PremiAir Racing Camaros were able to advance to the second part of the session, qualifying at P23 and P17 respectively.
In qualifying for race 18, Stanaway was able to head into the fight for the top ten grid spots, securing P10 for the #62 by the time the flags flew on that session. Golding meanwhile laid down a lap that would see him allocated a starting position of P21.
Race 17 got off to a troublesome start with a safety car called in the opening corners of the first lap before a crash on the straight upon the restart required another. And that wasn’t all for race start chaos, with a hectic incident in turn 5 while the safety car was being called for seeing a number of cars – including Stanway – incur damage. The team would put in a valiant effort to get the #62 back on track to earn finishing points in P22, while Golding focused on consolidating what he could while struggling for car pace, with strategy and pit stops allowing him to climb from P23 to a finishing position of P16.
Race 18 was another to forget for Stanaway, with contact with Matt Payne seeing him drop from P11 on lap two to P24. Any potential for a fight back was then thwarted when he was forced to the pits with a steering issue. The crew got to work to try and ensure that the #62 could resume, first changing a power steering pump, but it soon became clear the problem was either a piston or steering rack issue and a return in the time available was just not possible. Golding again put his head down in the #31 to work his way through the pack where he could, moving from P21 to cross the line in P16, before being elevated to P15 thanks to a post-race penalty for Thomas Randle.
It was the first races for Andrew ‘Gilly’ Gilliam engineering Stanaway in the #62, with he and Stanaway reporting their frustrations at their potential for what they believed could have been twin top ten finishes today with improved car performance undermined. Golding meanwhile reports his entry was much improved in race two compared to earlier in the weekend, and he is feeling positive for tomorrow. For their comments, see below.
Sunday’s final day of the Darwin Triple Crown will kick off with Race 19 qualifying at 9.05am, ahead of the Top Ten Shootout at 11.35am. Race 19 will then be held across 70 laps, kicking off at 2.40pm. All times local. For full event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: DARWIN TRIPLE CROWN – Saturday 21 June, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“We didn’t do a good job Friday, and when that happens you don’t always get out of jail and we didn’t get out of jail today. And when we did, on car 62 for example in the second quali in which he reached the top ten – that doesn’t happen too often so somewhere it was a good result – we then had a crash in turn one on the second lap of the race and we were last, and then we lose the steering during the middle of the race. And the rest is basically….it was a difficult day.
“Jimmy didn’t do a bad job but the car was probably not that great to be able to come from the back. He probably has a car that could be top ten, it has got pace, but you can’t show any pace when you are at the back. The second race was better in my opinion but again when we hit traffic with better tyre and fresher tyre, it takes a little too long to go through compared to some of the guys we look at, and that is what cost us, not moving forward enough. The race strategy was looking good, but then you need to hurry up, we took too much time fighting with others with one example costing us three or four seconds and that is three or four places and that all comes because we qualified poorly – that is down to us to turn that around for tomorrow and find something which is better. We can’t qualify down P15 and think we are going to do have a great race, not in the heat, not on a track where we are following, not in short races either.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“I have had worse days but it wasn’t what we expected or hoped for heading into today. Obviously yesterday we didn’t really show anything but we didn’t get a clean lap in practice two so we didn’t really know where we were. Unfortunately, today we found out bluntly where we were and we weren’t quick enough. So, we had a lot to look at and try and improve after qualifying down the back for both races. Race one we based off what we did in practice one and the race sim stuff we did there, and it wasn’t flash in race one. I couldn’t really attack. Strategy wise and pit stops and that we maximised whatever we could and picked up a few places and stayed out of trouble which was good, we did a good job at that. But the car pace just wasn’t there to attack and it was really about bringing it home in that one. In the second one it was a big improvement; the car performance was a lot better. Although we didn’t make up too many spots the car was much better to drive. A couple of things didn’t go our way earlier on with passes and things, I didn’t get past Randle which cost us a bit of time there – if we had got in front of him and got that clear track a bit earlier we would have been onto that pack at the end a bit sooner. I think we did make the right call with the four tyres and it was coming on strong, but obviously we lost those couple of laps at the end as well there with the safety car. It definitely wasn’t I don’t think the wrong decision to do all four, but we just didn’t get the chance to maximise it. There was still a lot of positives, good strategies and the car improved, so I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Andrew Gilliam – Engineer, #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was definitely character-building, you could say that. I think for the first time working with Richie we have really turned the car around from Friday to Saturday, improved up to 17th only a tenth and a half off making top ten in the first qualifier and then having a chance at part two in the second qualifying today was really exciting. I think the car and all those set up elements have been making sense and quite good this weekend, but we had just no luck in the races today at all. It just felt like we had a genuine chance to get two top tens today and nothing to show for it, which is the only disappointing element. So yeah, a bit of a rollercoaster today, but there have been positive elements and considering how fresh I am getting back into hits role, there are elements today where I am quite proud of what I was able to achieve with Richie too.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It has been a really tough day. The car had promise and we worked very hard and we have got nothing to show for it. Working with Gilly has been really good and we were able to really advance from where we were Friday to where we were today as far as the car performance and the potential was really there, but it just felt like everything was against us there in both races. We will regroup now and hopefully we can have some better luck tomorrow while continuing to improve our car.”
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