After a tough first half of their on-track day, PremiAir Racing has enjoyed a “transformative” turnaround for the afternoon’s racing at the Perth Super 440 to end their Saturday on a high.
Saturday had started for PremiAir Racing with a special celebration to mark the 100th Supercars race for the team with some traditional Maltese Pastizzi. For the photo opportunity that followed, the four team members who have been with the team owners Peter and Carmen Xiberras since the beginning – Mick Shortus, Andrew Hackett, Trevor Kuhn, and Richard Smith – stood in the front row as the team reflected on what has been an exciting journey to date.
When it came to the on-track action, the proceedings started with back-to-back qualifying for races 14 and 15 of the Supercars Championship, with a two-part knockout format in play for both sessions.
In qualifying for race 14, Jimmy Golding took the #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro into part two on P10, where he remained in the second session. Richie Stanaway, meanwhile, struggled with the #62 PremiAir Racing entry, finishing up in P24.
In qualifying for race 15, neither Golding or Stanaway were able to progress to the second part, logging the 18th and 24th quickest times respectively.
In race 14, both drivers put their heads down across the 50 lap race and did what they could to bring the cars home in P13 (Golding) and P24 (Stanaway). The disappointment at not having advanced further was then compounded by a post-race penalty in what was the team’s 100th race, a 30 point team points penalty for the tyre being placed too far out in the lane during the pit stop.
While the day had been mostly frustrating for the team to this point, it was in Race 15 that the PremiAir Racing Camaros and those behind the entries had their chance to shine.
With wholesale changes made to both cars between the two races, the Camaros were transformed for the final 50 lap race of the day, allowing Stanaway to climb seven positions from P24 to P17 – including an incredible passing move on the grass which drew plenty of applause from the commentary team – and Golding four positions from P18 to P14.
With this newfound direction putting a smile on the faces of drivers and crew alike, PremiAIr Racing is feeling more confident heading into Sunday’s final day of the Perth Super 440, which will feature a two-part qualifying session (11.00am) followed by a Top Ten Shootout (1.05pm) to set the grid for the afternoon’s 80-lap Race 16 (2.05pm). For full event information, visit www.supercars.com
QUOTEBOARD: PERTH SUPER 440 – Saturday June 7, 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“We really poorly read the balance from Friday to Saturday, we thought we were going to pick up a fair bit of understeer, we thought we were close to the balance we needed and though the track would give us the balance but that didn’t happen, we couldn’t load the front tyre and were sliding across the track and had no pace. That made for a very difficult qualifying for the 62. Jimmy did a good job on the soft 2025 tyre putting himself in the top ten, although we didn’t have a very good run in the ten, but to be there was a good thing. On the Super Soft Richie had the same car really and couldn’t really find the speed out of the car and Jimmy would have had a better car but made a mistake – I would say he was probably in the high ten but ended up 18th as the grid is so compact, from 10 to 20 is basically a tenth of a second.
“In the first race it was a bit of survival, Jimmy started up and stayed mostly up which was good, but it was difficult, we lost a few places, and had a slow pit stop which cost a lot of time which is something we are working on. We also copped that penalty for a small infringement – we have been doing it all year long by the looks and this time it was picked up and they gave us a penalty and that is fair – the tyre was not in the right place, it is too far out and obstructing the next car to come, so it is as simple as that.
“In the second race, we changed the set up on both cars to something that we like sometimes and it worked. The cars were definitely faster across the people around us and our friends at Triple Eight and we made seven spots on the 62 which was positive and Jimmy also moved forward a fair bit. We showed some pace, did some overtaking, and were able to attack by stopping early to take a position and then conserving it. We feel positive that we addressed some of the issues of the day, although it would have been good to have been at this point on Friday instead of Saturday. It puts you on the back foot and that is what costs.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“It hasn’t really been the best weekend for us so far, it has been a little bit up and down. We didn’t get the car right for the super soft tyre in qualifying today so we started down the back in that one and we didn’t quite have the race car when we did qualify further up in race one. We made it a lot better for the second race and we will work off that for tomorrow. It is along race tomorrow and I think anything can happen really at this point of the weekend.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“(On the overtaking move on the grass) I got unlucky a few times with cars coming out earlier on cold tyres but luckily I had just enough margin to clear them, but obviously when Bryce came out it was pretty marginal, he was wobbling across the track on the cold tyre so I just had to make the split second decision to go through. If I had checked up behind him I would have lost a lot of time, when you are racing everyone you are fighting over every tenth of a second so you don’t want to throw away a few seconds, so yeah it was a bit sketchy, but it had to be done.
“(On the second race) We made a massive change between the two races today; we were missing a lot of speed in quali and in the first race and completely transformed the car for that second race. So, we will roll that out tomorrow and hopefully we can qualify a lot further up.”
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
