PremiAir Racing has brought home two top ten results from two hard-fought races at Symmons Plains today, and one just on the outside, with Jimmy Golding crossing the line in P9 and P6 in today’s races 11 and 12 of the 2025 Supercars championship while Richie Stanaway finished P11 in race 11.
The day had opened with two-part qualifying for each race, with Golding and the #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro making it through to the second stage of 10 racers in both outings, for a starting position of P10 in race 11 and P3 in race 12.
While Stanaway was unable to advance in both qualifiers, he did manage a race 11 starting position of P14 in the #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro for race 11 despite struggling with setup.
In qualifying for race 12 however, his efforts were thwarted by a leaky valve on his front left tyre – one of a number of such failures experienced up and down the pit lane today. While the issue arose in the first run, by the time he got back on track for his second run the checkered flags were flying, seeing him unable to deliver a flying lap and classified in P23.
In the 50-lap race 11, both Jimmy and Richie put in a solid effort on the tight and challenging circuit, improving a number of spots from their P10 and P14 starting positions to bring the team close to a double top ten result.
Golding would pit first for two rear tyres, followed soon after by Stanaway for four, rejoining in P8 and P13 for the final phase of the race. With a solid drive from both cars, the #31 would cross the line in P9, while the #62 would be not far behind in P11.
In Race 12, Golding held P3 early, however it was a tale of woe for Stanaway who first climbed two positions to P21 on the first lap and was then pushed off the track down the back straight, rejoining at the back of the field with steering damage which would worsen throughout the race.
While this left Stanaway to concentrate on doing all he could to ensure the #62 crossed the finish line while salvaging some points, Golding was pushing on near the front.
With some time lost in the pits on his stop for two right side tyres, which followed Richie’s stop for the same, Golding resumed in P7 while Richie was P23. When all CPS were completed, Golding held P5 before eventually crossing the line in P6, while Stanaway had clawed his way back for a finishing position of P22 after that early setback.
Tomorrow (Sunday 11 May) will conclude the Tasmania Super 440 with qualifying parts 1 and 2 for race 13 at 9.35am ahead of a Top Ten Shootout at 11.55am, followed by the 78-lap race 13 at 2.45pm. For event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: TASMANIA SUPER 440 – Saturday 10 May, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“Qualifying was okay for us. The #31 did a good job overall being in the top ten twice and in the four for the second race, that was a solid effort I thought. Richie struggled on the 2025 tyre for the second race qualifying. The first race was better in qualifying for him but still we missed a couple of little things and we couldn’t repeat the performance of the lap of yesterday. In the first race both cars drove solidly and moved forward which is positive on the super soft from last year. In the second race, we lost a bit of time in the pits compared to other people – everyone is doing two tyres, so you add two seconds and it costs unfortunately and it pushes you back, we need some work on the setup for during the race I think on both cars. Unfortunately, Richie had an accident on the first lap which bent the steering seriously which meant that we did the race with very bad steering, which can hurt the front tyre and then you don’t have a lot to talk about. So, we drove at the back trying to salvage a couple of points and make sure we finished the race so that is what #62 did. Jimmy was solid (in race two), but not solid enough, and we need to be a bit better in the pits.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“You always want it to be better don’t you. There are definitely some positives to take out of the day. We had good qualifying pace. We didn’t get the first qualifying right; we had the pace but a few things didn’t go right in the session which hindered the final result there, but it was still good to get in the ten. In Q2 to get P3 was pretty cool, putting us up towards the front for the second race. In race one we pretty much just held our own, there isn’t too much you can do differently in these short races. So, we opted for the two tyres, it was neither here nor there really whether two or four was obviously better, so that was all good. And then in race two we held into third in the start and then the car wasn’t the best – we did make some changes from the first race to try and improve it but it didn’t improve the areas we were targeting. So, between that and a little bit of pit lane time loss we didn’t really have anything to fight with towards the end of the race so, we have to tune it up and not throw away those top threes tomorrow.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It was a tough day. We had a not so great qualifying this morning in either session – we missed the balance a little bit in the first one and weren’t quite fast enough, and in the second quali we had a valve break and we didn’t get the first run on the tyre, which is important because it is the first time you drive on that tyre in the weekend. And then when we went for the second run in that session, I got the checkered flag before I could start my flying lap, so that put us down the back unfortunately. It was a solid first race, we went forward a few positions, but in the second race the accident meant we had steering damage which got worse and worse throughout the race. We did have some good race pace at times which was good, we just need to put it all together tomorrow.”
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
