An exceptionally busy Saturday at the Taupō Super 440 saw PremiAir Racing contest back-to-back qualifying and two 37-lap races, with the packed schedule highlighted by a best race result of P9 for Jimmy Golding in the #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro in race 8 of the 2025 Supercars Championship.
In the opening race for the weekend for the Supercars competitors, a pit stop cycle which played out under yellows had an undeniable impact on the race for the entire field.
It worked particularly well for Jimmy who had started the race in P19 following the morning’s qualifying. While he lost a spot off the start, a decision to stay out when the majority of the field dove into the pits under the safety car and instead pit the next time around more than paid off, catapulting the #31 to P10 once everyone had completed their CPSs.
From there, Golding put in a solid drive to maintain, eventually crossing the line in P11 before that result was updated to P9 thanks to post-race penalties applied to other competitors.
While the pit stop timing strategy went the way of Golding, it was the opposite for his team-mate Richie Stanaway, who was boxed in in the #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro after completing his stop.
The time lost saw any hopes for Stanaway to be able to take an advantage in the lane go out the window. Despite the disappointment, the Kiwi put his head down and drove a determined race over the remaining 27 laps to cross the line in P17 after having started in the same position.
In race 9, Stanaway started from P13, quickly advancing to P10 before the close of the first lap before later moving up the field to be running in P5 at the close of the CPS cycle.
However, a decision to change only the rear tyres saw what had been shaping up as potential top five result ultimately go wanting – while Stanaway was able to remain in the top ten until seven laps to go, tyre degradation severely undermined his ability on-track and eventually saw him slip all the way back to a finishing position of P21.
Golding meanwhile started the second 37-lap race of Saturday from P22, doing a good job to maintain and stay out of trouble before gaining a few positions to be P17 at the time of his CPS. Resuming on-track in P21, he then put in a solid effort over the following 18 laps to cross the line in P18.
The Taupō Super 440 action concludes tomorrow (Sunday 13 April) with qualifying for race 10 of the Supercars Championship starting at 10:35am, ahead of the top ten shootout at 12:50pm and race 10 at 3:05pm (all times local). For event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: TAUPŌ SUPER 440 – Saturday 12 April, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“It was a difficult day, but there were some very positive elements too – we had good strategy and kept out of the trouble in pit lane with the #31 in the first race of the day and came out with P9, and in the second race the car pace on the #62 was good and we were fighting with the top six cars – we weren’t there for the first two, but with the others we were definitely strong. Unfortunately for the #62 in that race we then made the wrong call with a two-tyre strategy which was a good one last year but this year it obviously wasn’t. We gave the choice to the driver but perhaps we should have sussed out what was happening around us, instead of taking a gamble. If we had taken four tyres we would have been in the top ten, and maybe even top five, and that would have been a great result. But we started going backwards and once you go backward you start losing a lot of time as people are coming at you, and it takes time off you, and then there’s another and another. For Jimmy in that race he did take four tyres as he felt he had to do something after qualifying at the back. He is not super happy with his car and we need to do something on the super soft for his car. Richie meanwhile said he felt the #62 was good on the super soft. Tomorrow is going to be a big day, and we need to qualify well and then do a good first stint and then try and get back in the top ten – we had a solid top ten car for the first stint today and there is nothing wrong with the cars, but there were just bad choices unfortunately.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It has been a pretty disappointing day for us, we didn’t maximise what we had. The promising thing is that we had good speed at the start of the second race – it was the most competitive we have been all year, and it was nice to feel like we were in the race. It gives us something to work from which is helpful, and now we just get to work and try and do what we can to make sure we can have a better day tomorrow.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“In qualifying I feel that we didn’t adjust the car enough from a race car to suit qualifying in the first one, so that was our downfall there. And in the second qualifying, it was on the super soft tyre and we just really didn’t have anything, which showed again in the second race today which was on that same tyre. We did try something to try and resolve that deficit we have between the other tyre and the super soft, but it just didn’t seem to show up. Race one was a positive; we had a good strategy and didn’t get caught up in all the rubbish in pit lane, so it was a good job by the team on that. We have some work on the car to do tonight ahead of 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
