On paper, two 30-minute practice sessions may seem like a relaxed opening day for the Gold Coast 500, but for PremiAir Racing and the rest of the Supercars field, it has been anything but.
With just one hour total of practice amidst a concrete jungle, all held on day one, the event format this weekend leaves absolutely no room for a slow burn before the start of qualifying and racing a stark contrast to the recent Bathurst 1000 where there were six hour-long practice session held over three days before the big race.
As such, it was an intense day at the track for PremiAir Racing as they sought to get as much preparation work around tyres and setups completed as possible within the short time they were on-track, which was also interrupted heavily by red flag periods to further complicate things for the drivers and their engineers.
The Arundel-based team, racing just hours from home this weekend, took the opportunity to run different tyres across both cars in both sessions today to bleed the most information possible on the Super Soft and Soft tyres which will be employed across Saturday and Sunday’s racing.
In practice one, Richie Stanaway in the #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro was able to set the fifth quickest time when he took on green tyres at the end of the session, while Jimmy Golding was P20 in the #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro on old rubber with a focus on race setup.
In practice two, Golding was 8th quickest after bolting on greens at the end after again running the majority of the session on used tyres, while Stanaway was P19.
With the field straight into qualifying tomorrow, it will be a busy evening in the PremiAir Racing garage as the team looks to translate what they learnt today into competitive qualifying and race set-ups for tomorrow.
The Gold Coast 500 action will continue tomorrow (Saturday 25 October) with qualifying at 11.00am, the Top Ten Shootout at 12.35pm, and Race 28 at 3.15pm, for a duration of 85 laps. On Sunday 26 October, that format will repeat, with qualifying for Race 29 at 10.00am, the Top Ten Shootout at 11.35am, and then Race 29 itself, which will commence at 2.10pm and be held over 85 laps. For full event and scheduling information, go to www.supercars.com
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QUOTEBOARD: GOLD COAST 500, FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“It wasn’t a bad day overall, with some positive signs this morning. We ran different tyres on both cars during the day, trying to understand how the super soft behaves compared to the soft, since tomorrow will be all super soft.
At this stage, we believe the soft is a very good tyre around here, while with the super soft, we still need to find a way to make it quick over one lap. Richie had a bit of a smile early in Practice 1 he was happy, and the car looked good but in Practice 2 we couldn’t quite repeat that, as we didn’t run the same tyre sets, which makes comparisons tricky.
Jimmy did a good job; he was on used tyres almost all day, and only fitted one new set at the end. He matched the tyre well and was only two-tenths off, which is pretty impressive considering he was running a race setup and older rubber.
So overall, plenty of positives we just need to find something for Richie that works a little better over one lap. His earlier session was strong, so we’ll look to capitalise on that race setup and show something tomorrow.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Practice wrapped up here on the Gold Coast, not a bad day overall. The car’s nice and straight, and we got plenty of laps in, which was the main goal. We tried a few different things with the setup, and while it’s a bit hard to judge with everyone on different tyres, I think we’ve got a pretty good gauge on things.
Practice 2 gave us a bit of an idea of qualifying pace, but race pace is harder to tell at this stage. We were fairly focused on that in Practice 1, so we weren’t too worried about the timesheets. Overall, the car feels good. We’ve just got to nail it tomorrow.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Pretty solid day for us overall. The first session was good, we had a little wheel speed sensor issue, so no no-lock lights, which made things a bit tricky, but it was still an intense session.
In Practice 2, we didn’t get a lap in on new tyres towards the end, so we didn’t really get a proper read on that, but I feel like the car’s in a pretty good window. We don’t need to tune it too much for tomorrow, which is a nice place to be.”
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