Day two of the Townsville 500 was a tale of two halves, with a solid result in Race 21 for Richie Stanaway in the #62 Camaro in P15 and a DNF for Jimmy Golding in the #31 entry.
Saturday’s qualifying resulted in a challenging start to day two of the Townsville 500, with both of the PremiAir Racing Camaros unable to progress past part one of today’s three-part qualifying for Race 21. The team had a target of P18 or better in part one to advance to the next stage, and at the halfway mark, both Golding and Stanaway looked to be sitting well within the zone, sitting in P8 and P12, respectively. However, Stanaway and Golding secured P22 and P23, respectively in what is proving to be an incredibly competitive field this weekend.
Before Race 21, the entire field observed a minute’s silence on the grid in honour of the life and recent passing of Tim Miles, a former Supercars team owner and highly respected member of the Australian and New Zealand motorsport community.
In Race 21, Stanaway jumped five positions into P17 at the start, while drama for Golding triggered a full-course yellow after the #31 collided with the fence at Turn 3 on lap one when he was squeezed by another car spinning in front, ending his Saturday campaign early. He was assessed and cleared by the track medical staff, with the same unfortunately not being said for #31. A late night lies ahead for the team, now working hard to repair the car ahead of Race 22 tomorrow. Stanaway, meanwhile, crossed the line at the chequered flag in P15.
As the race unfolded, the Safety Car was deployed, giving Stanaway the opportunity for four tyres and a full tank of fuel, locking in the strategy for the remainder of the race. A quick, clean stop enabled Stanaway to rejoin the race in a strong position in P15.
By halfway through the race, he had worked his way up to P13, enjoying a long stint of trouble-free running before diving into the pits with 26 laps to go for his final compulsory pitstop.
With four fresh tyres and fuel for the run home, the #62 emerged from P16 on the road, before moving back up to P13.
As the laps ticked over, Stanaway had his elbows out fighting for position, ultimately dropping one place on the road with two laps to go.
The final day of the NTI Townsville 500 begins with a three-part qualifying for Race 22 at including two back-to-back 10-minute sessions at 10.05am and 10.25am and a Top Ten Shootout at 12.05pm on Sunday. Race 22 will be held across 70 laps, kicking off at 3.00pm. All times local. For full event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: TOWNSVILLE 500 – Saturday 12 July, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“We couldn’t get into the top 18 in qualifying. In the race, being where we were, we couldn’t warm up the tyres as we’d want to on the outlap. We know the cars aren’t far from some of the other cars around us, so we just need to do a better job. Jimmy wanted to stay out of trouble and not be involved in too much, and all of a sudden, everything happened in front of him. We didn’t want to be involved, but we were. There was a car coming across and he tried everything to avoid it, but he was collected and had the worst damage of everyone involved. It was very unlucky and I feel sorry for him. The race itself, Richie survived the early incident and made some solid ground with solid pitstops. We got into P13 but dropped back to P15, we tried to capitalise on what we could, but there is still some work to do. We are slow in the back chicane, in both chicanes actually and it’s costing us. We need to improve for tomorrow, where the aim is to be in P10 to P15.
“There is bodywork damage and wishbone damage on Jimmy’s car, but I don’t think there is anything too solid. And that’s one of the good things of Supercars today, the consumables will break, but the roll cage and frame are solid. But there is still plenty of work to do.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“The big win today was luckily surviving the crash at the start. It gave us our position early in the race, and the boys gave us a really good pitstop, especially in the fluster and panic of the full-course yellow. We gained a few spots there, but unfortunately, we didn’t have the car speed to keep pushing forward after we made all those spots at the start of the race. It was just a matter of trying our best with strategy and doing the best with what we had. So now we’ll work out where we need to change the balance points to move forward tomorrow.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It’s been a rough weekend, and today’s race result wasn’t what we needed, considering we needed the laps today. The focus at the start of the race was to get a clear run through and avoid any incidents. I was max awareness, as much as I could, into turn one where there were cars coming together, and I went as tight as I could to avoid them. At Turn 3, I could see cars moving around a lot on the outside, so I went as far right as I could, and a car half spun ahead and turned right, which wedged me into the wall. I feel I was lucky not to roll. I haven’t seen the car yet, but hopefully, because it hit square on the wall, it won’t be too bad.”
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