13th
21ST
1:47.8530
11th
1:47.5788
7th
While today’s race 5 of the 2025 Supercars Championship at the Melbourne Super Sprint may have been scheduled for 19 laps, only 12 would be completed before the flags flew thanks to two safety cars being called for during what was another race full of contact.
While PremiAir Racing managed to avoid major shunts like those experienced yesterday for both cars, it was still a difficult outing for the team, seeing the #31 and #62 PremiAir Racing Camaros come home in P13 and P21 respectively.
In the #31, Jimmy Golding started the race from P11, dropping a couple of spots on the start and then again on the restart as he tried to look after his tyres in the hot weather while avoiding the chaos around him.
While being largely successful in doing so, a case of ‘follow the leader’ in the shortened format negated any opportunity to advance, leaving Golding to maintain P13 to the line – not a horrible result, but far from what the team were hoping for.
In the #62, Richie Stanaway had even less luck, starting P7 and holding that early before running into trouble on both restarts, including a rub with the wall and contact from other cars causing steering and suspension damage to his Camaro which saw him effectively hobbled for the remainder of the race.
Despite grappling with a disabled Camaro, Stanaway did his best to persevere and bring home what points he could, with the time certain status of the race meaning a call to head to the pits for repairs would not have been a wise one.
On the upside, both cars showed strong pace, and the team is hoping that tomorrow (Saturday) will bring better luck.
Saturday’s schedule will host back-to-back qualifying for races 6 and 7 from 9.05am ahead of race 6 at 5.40pm, before Sunday concludes the Melbourne Super Sprint with race 7 at 10.25am (all times AEDT). For event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: MELBOURNE SUPER SPRINT – Friday 14 March, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“It was a difficult day again today. In the #62 it started off well, pulling off 7th quite nicely and racing for one or two laps before the safety car. Richie then got pushed out by Kostecki and damaged a bit of the front end at that time, and then got pushed out by another car and lost another two or three positions, and then touched the wall on the last corner on the restart and we had no front end at all. So, in the #62 we finished the race really just running around trying to score some points in 21st. In the #31, it was a bit more lucky but we still went backward a bit. All of the restarts and so on didn’t work our way. Tomorrow we have qualifying again, where we will try and do as good as possible – at least as good if not better than yesterday – and then hopefully we can try and score something in the last two races.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was a disappointing race, I got caught up in some battles and got some car damage on the way through, so I just had to try and finish. There was probably enough steering and suspension damage to warrant coming into pit lane, but as there were only a few laps left I had to just bring the car home. It was a really disappointing race for sure, but there is a lot we can learn from it. We have new qualifying tomorrow, so we are focusing on that and trying to qualify a bit further up the grid.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“I tried to settle in and look after the tyres in the hot weather and that saw me lose a spot or two off the start, and then maybe another one on the restart. On top of that, it was a lot of follow the leader out there today which meant we couldn’t achieve much. At the same time, we didn’t want to risk too much either – as we have all seen, there are some pretty big shunts to be had out there. We needed to make sure we had a car for tomorrow, especially as we know we have a fast car. So we have to look after it so we can use it tomorrow, and that is what we focused on.”
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.twitter.com/premiairracing
