Saturday of the 2025 Ipswich Super 440 at Queensland Raceway may have gotten off to a lacklustre start for PremiAir Racing, but the team dug deep to make sure they could redeem themselves by the day’s end with a top ten result.
Day two of the event, which is marking Supercars’ return to the Ipswich venue for the first time since 2019, kicked off with qualifying for Race 23 at 9.35am and brought plenty of disappointment for the Arundel-based team, finishing up in part one in P22 (Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro) and P26 (Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro).
The only way was up, and the team was quick to refocus ahead of qualifying for Race 24, which was held just moments later at 10.25am.
It was in this session that the team started turning its luck around, with both PremiAir Racing Camaros making their way to the second part of the session by being 6th and 8th in part one. In a wet and wild part two, they would secure starting positions for Race 24 of P4 (Stanaway) and P8 (Golding).
Come Race 23, and the PremiAir Racing Camaros remained ones to watch – carving their way through the field early with Golding storming from P26 to P16 in the opening lap, while Stanaway moved from P22 to 18.
From there, both drivers put in a solid drive, pitting on laps 8 and 18 respectively for two left side tyres each and taking further positions across the 39 lap race to finish P14 (Golding) and P15 (Stanaway) under a safety car which was called three laps out from the flag due to a stranded competitor – a remarkable improvement of 12 and 7 positions respectively.
In Race 24, the improved qualifying results for this race immediately proved very helpful when chaos unfolded on the first corner behind both PremiAir Racing entries, requiring an immediate safety car.
When the race resumed on lap four, Stanaway held his own in P4 while Golding was strong in P9 – advancing to P8 on lap 14 before diving into the pits, taking on four new tyres. Richie would remain out for a few more laps before pitting from P4 on lap 23 for four tyres.
As the race continued, Golding climbed back to P8 – a position he held until the final seven laps where fading tyres saw him slip back to finish in P14. Stanaway meanwhile advanced through to the top ten by lap 31 before advancing to P8 with three laps remaining, where he remained until the checkered flags flew.
While always wanting more, it signalled a strong turnaround compared to how the day had started for the PremiAir Racing Camaros and sees the team ready to fight again tomorrow for the third and final race of the weekend – a 63 lap race (preceded by qualifying at 9.45am and a top ten shootout at 11.40am) which will kick off at 3.15pm. For full event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: IPSWICH SUPER 440 – SATURDAY 9 AUGUST, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“Race 23 qualifying was mismanagement you would say. We wanted to do two laps at the end and we pushed the car too late basically, too marginal. And then the out lap with all the people around and this and that it went too slow, so we ended up having only one lap on this tyre. So, we did a one lapper first, and a second one lapper – the plan was one lap time and then two lap time at the end on the second set and that cost us clearly from getting in a better position, a top ten probably not, but a better position.
“In second quali, we were racing on the Super Soft, the ‘24 tyre. Historically Richie is a better driver on that one, he feels the tyre really well and is happy with it. So, he went good again and got in the top ten, and the same with Jimmy.
“In the top ten the rain came just on that lap, and that is where you can still see Richie has got that exceptional feel in wet weather, slippery conditions; and he did a fourth lap time basically where some of the top drivers who were ahead on the track – and actually had a better run on the tyres as the track was not as wet – and he beat them on that which was great and put us on p4, so that was very positive.
“In the first race we separated and we moved forward which was very good and very important. We would have liked to be faster like we always want.
“We did a couple of changes for the second race of the day, very tiny. The thing is we qualified P4 but I don’t think we are a P4 Driver/Car combination at this stage so it was always going to be difficult. We wanted to go deep with Richie, because he does manage better the tyre at the end of a long stint, so we went a bit deeper to 23 for a run of 16 laps, but that was okay. We lost a couple of spots as our pit stops are not completely flash yet, they are better but not yet completely flash.
“Jimmy was P8 at the time when we pitted him – we pitted him early; he had a good run Friday late, and he was actually lapping consistently and well, but unfortunately when you pit early and put on tyres you move forward in the order but then the guys in front of you pit and come from the back on fresher tyres, so they pass you. We lost five positions during this exchange and from a P8 position we ended up P14 because we don’t lose the time on track but we lose the time because we get overtaken. So, it is not the right strategy on that track on that day, we would have been better to try and go deeper, but that is easy to say now.
“We tried something, thinking we could but we didn’t have enough car speed to move forward enough for the guys behind, or just in front, to catch us back basically. And when they catch you back, they don’t only catch, they overtake, and every overtake is a second loss so it costs you twice, you lose the spot and you lose a second, so that is the story of the day.
“There are some positives, it was probably a better Saturday than most, but still some things we need to do better. We are still not as quick as the Red Bull cars and that is where we need to aim. We know what they have got and how they do it sort of and we need to execute better in quali. We didn’t execute perfectly and we need to execute better in pit stops and during the race as a driver we need to get a better drive of the car and try and set up the car for that. It is progress but it is not enough yet.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was a pretty solid day for us, good to have a result where we are racing in the top ten after the last few rounds, so I think Gilly and I are really making steps forward.
“We have been working really hard to try and improve our performance this weekend from what we have been learning recently so it is nice to show a bit of that progress.
“It isn’t quite where we want to be yet, we aren’t getting podiums, but I think you have to take the small wins and be happy with a bit of progress – just keep working hard and try and back it up tomorrow.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Q1 obviously didn’t go to plan. Q2 we got into the top ten which is cool and then ended up in that session where it absolutely belted down, which was pretty sketchy. I was pretty happy with how we went there; we didn’t really make up too many spots being one of the last cars out of pit lane in the first few laps where it was a bit drier, we were one of the last cars over the line, but we ended up P8 and kept the car nice and straight in tricky conditions.
“For the first race we started dead last and I got an unbelievable start and made up nine spots on the first lap, it was 10 spots but one of those went into pit lane, and I think that is the most cars I have passed in one lap so that was pretty cool. We picked off one more later in the race and then someone else got a penalty as well so ended up P14 which was a pretty good recovery from being on the back row there.
“In the second race we started P8 and got a bit of wheel spin off the start and lost a spot to Mozzie, but we settled in okay and chose to pit early. We were sort of trucking along okay but there were a few guys that pitted late towards the back half of the race that were sort of all in a bit of a bunch, and once one of them got us that time loss of when you lose one and then you are in the hot air right away behind them, it leaves you to get passed by another one with around six/seven/eight laps Lower mileage tyres on us, we did what we could to hold them off, but unfortunately couldn’t hold on to keep it in the ten. So it was another P14, and we will look at it tonight and make sure we do our best tomorrow.”
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