PremiAir Racing headed into the opening day of the Townsville 500 with a plan to focus on securing a strong qualifying position and delivering quick, clean pit stops. While day one might not have gone according to plan in qualifying, there are plenty of learnings to take into Saturday’s three-part qualifying and race.
Practice 1 provided a valuable hit-out for the PremiAir Racing squad, with the focus on car balance and long-run performance ahead of the afternoon’s race 20. Richie Stanaway finished the session P19 in the #62 Camaro, while Jimmy Golding placed P23 in the #31 entry. In Practice 2, the focus shifted to chasing times, with both drivers pushing hard to dial in their pace. However, the results weren’t what the team had hoped for, with Stanaway finishing in P21 and Golding again in P23.
In qualifying for race 20, both drivers donned fresh green tyres in preparation for a big push to make it through the first 10-minute qualifying session and into the top 10. Stanaway clocked a solid improvement from practice, landing in P12, leaving the #62 Camaro just shy of advancing to part two, while Golding finished the session in P18. While it again wasn’t quite the result the team was aiming for, focus quickly shifted to preparations for race 20.
Stanaway and Golding both lined up for the 100km sprint around the streets of Townsville for race 20, ready to fight for forward movement through the field. Stanaway got off to a strong start, making up one position in lap one, where he settled into a solid rhythm by lap five, while Golding initially lost two positions before reclaiming them over the next few laps. There was a quick, clean, and early trip through pit lane for fresh rear tyres for the #62, while the team opted for a different strategy for Golding – who pitted a few laps later, also taking on two rear tyres – to run the #31 long in the hopes of finding clean air and potential on-track gains. When all was said and done, Stanaway would go on to cross the finish line P16, with Golding P18.
Attention now turns to preparations for the three-part qualifier ahead of Race 21 on Saturday. First up are the two back-to-back 10-minute qualifying sessions on track at 10.00am and 10.20am respectively, before the Top Ten Shootout begins at 12.05pm. Saturday’s on-track action concludes with the 70-lap Race 21 at 3.00pm (all times local). For full event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: TOWNSVILLE 500 – Friday 11 July, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“We started poorly in practice one and practice two. I don’t think we were where we wanted to be. We decided earlier in the week to stay close to Triple Eight, and our qualifying was acceptable, although not great, compared to practice. In the race, unfortunately, we were impatient again, both from the driver’s side and the engineering side. We pitted early, but that strategy isn’t working for us at this stage, and that’s clear. If you have to make a mess of things, it’s better to do it on Friday because it’s a shorter race with fewer points, and Saturday and Sunday we have a lot of points. So, we’ve made our mistake, and we will try to stay out of trouble tomorrow.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Today wasn’t the result we were aiming for, but there are still plenty of positives to build on heading into Race 21. Our qualifying pace was strong compared to the cars around us, showing we’ve got the potential when things are working well. Unfortunately, the changes we made before the race didn’t give us what we needed, and that cost us. We’ll take a good look at today’s calls, learn from them, and come back with a new plan of attack tomorrow to keep moving forward.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Today didn’t go our way, but there’s still plenty of racing ahead to turn things around. We’ve got two 200km races across Saturday and Sunday to make up ground and have another crack at it. While today’s race wasn’t worth big points, it gave us valuable learnings to take into tomorrow. We’ll put our heads down tonight, work on improving our track position, and come back stronger.”
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