WILD MOMENTS HIGHLIGHT PREMIAIR RACING DOGGED PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
To succeed at Mount Panorama, you need a combination of things: mechanical skill and racing talent for sure, perfect preparation and quality race cars definitely, plenty of luck of course, and also, a fair shake of bravery and commitment.
PremiAir Racing had all on display during Saturday of the Bathurst 1000 today, as they undertook their final preparations for Sunday’s Great Race.
In their pursuit of being as close to picture perfect as possible, the team and its four drivers – Jimmy Golding and David Russell in the #31 and Richie Stanaway and Nash Morris in the #62 – had a comprehensive program to work through across the two hour-long practice sessions.
In the pit lane, they ran through drill after drill, while on the track, race runs were the name of the game, while the drivers also threw everything they could at the Mountain to ensure every possible hundredth of a second was being bled from the PremiAir Racing Camaros.
Of course, you can’t run right on the ragged edge without some wild moments, and there were at least two which caught the eye of commentary and race fans today for Golding as he hammered across the top of the Mountain – thankfully, his ability behind the wheel saw him able to salvage both without damage to the #31.
Practice five was for the co-drivers only, with D-Russ and Morris putting in a solid performance across the hour, setting the 14th and 7th quickest lap times respectively – with Morris’ P7 coming right at the last moment.
For practice six – the last opportunity for fine tuning the race set-up – all four drivers had time at the wheel, with the #31 logging the 13th quickest time and the #62 the 26th.
Sunday’s Great Race will kick off at 11.45am AEDT Sunday 12 October, following a 20 minute warm-up at 8.30am. For full event and scheduling information, visit www.supercars.com
For exclusive team insights and updates as well as live session coverage as the weekend unfolds, be sure to keep a close eye on the PremiAirR Acing WhatsApp Channel, which is proudly presented by Air & Allied Sales. To join, visit https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaEGGiJ2kNFlJu5eeo1H
QUOTEBOARD: BATHURST 1000, SATURDAY 11 OCTOBER 2025
Ludo Lacroix – Competition Director, PremiAir Racing
“This morning, Nash did very well the car reacted nicely on a cold track, which was encouraging. This afternoon we ran with a full load of fuel, and while we’d already carried quite a bit this morning, the car didn’t respond quite as well with the extra weight. We’ve got a bit of work to do on how we’re landing the tyres on the ground, because that’s probably where we’re not maximising things at the moment.
We did a couple of restarts early in the session, but not as evenly as we’d like, and obviously, some teams did their minimum laps early, so they were always going to be a little ahead of us. Realistically, the best we could’ve been was around P1 with ten cars in the Shootout, those guys were always going to be up there. A few teams also ran on greens late in the session, which helped them jump ahead of Jimmy, but overall, he had a good car early on. The same challenge remains later in the run, the rear isn’t quite as sympathetic, so we need to study that.
Looking ahead to tomorrow, there’s about a 90% chance of rain. Every forecast I’ve checked three or four different ones is calling for 5 to 15mm of rain, low temps, and no sun. So we have to take that into account. If we’re racing for six and a half hours in the wet, there’s no point setting up for a completely dry race. The main task now is deciding how far we lean into a wet setup. It looks like it’ll get wetter toward the end rather than at the start, so we need a car that’s strong in both conditions good in the rain but also capable on a drying track. That’s the focus for tonight: adapt and prepare for tomorrow.”
Jimmy Golding – #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Yeah, pretty happy overall. We tried a few different things today in practice to see what we could get away with some changes we wanted to experiment with before heading into the race. It’s all been good learning, and I think we’ve made some solid progress in understanding what the car wants around here.
Overall, I’ve been feeling really comfortable in the car all weekend, and D-Russ has been doing a great job too. The car feels balanced, and as a team, I think we’re in a good spot heading into tomorrow. We’re well in the mix, and confidence is high that we can race strongly.
There’s some wet weather on the radar, which will definitely make things interesting and could shake things up a bit. But that’s Bathurst you’ve got to be ready for anything. If we keep our noses clean, make smart decisions, and execute our race plan properly, I think the result will take care of itself. Hopefully, we can be right there at the end, fighting for a strong finish.”
David Russell – co-driver, #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro
So for us, Saturday at Bathurst is all about focus. Qualifying is done and dusted, and from here, everything’s based around what you’ve got underneath you for Sunday’s race.
We made a lot of changes today, always keeping one eye on the weather. There’s a balance to that you can’t have a car that’s a jet in the dry but terrible in the wet, especially when there’s a strong forecast for rain. So we worked through a few different options today. Some things worked, some didn’t, but that’s all part of the process. The key is that we’ve validated the direction we’re heading in, which is really positive.
I wouldn’t say both drivers are 100% happy just yet, but we gathered a lot of valuable information and data from the changes we made. That gives us a really clear understanding of how to tune the car for tomorrow’s race.
Warm-up tomorrow morning isn’t really the time to reinvent anything, it’s more about getting a feel for the car and making sure everything’s settled. But overall, I think Jimmy and I are both feeling pretty good with where we ended up toward the tail end of Practice 6.”
Richie Stanaway – #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
Yeah, it was an okay day for us overall. Nash had a really solid session and did a great job keeping the focus on race tuning, that’s been our main priority today. We’ve been working through different setups and balance changes to make sure the car is strong over the long runs, not just over one lap.
We haven’t quite finished our debrief yet, but tonight we’ll sit down as a team and go through everything in detail. There’s still plenty of time to analyse the data and make sure we’re putting together the best possible package for tomorrow. The car’s feeling good, and I think we’re in a strong position to have a solid race.”
Nash Morris – co-driver, #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro
“Yeah, it was good. We had a solid co-driver-only session on Saturday and ended up seventh, I think. I got in a good race run, which I was pretty happy with, so we’ll use that data and what we learned heading into the race.
This afternoon, I did a few driver changes with Richie, it was a hot session out there. We ran some live pit stops and tried a few different things on the car, which didn’t really work out, but that’s all part of learning. We now know what not to do, so we’ll put it back, reset, and get ready for tomorrow.”
View all the latest photos from PremiAir Racing at the Bathurst 1000 in the gallery link below — updated right through the weekend.
For exclusive team insights and updates as well as live session coverage as the weekend unfolds, be sure to keep a close eye on the PremiAirR Acing WhatsApp Channel, which is proudly presented by Air & Allied Sales. To join, visit https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaEGGiJ2kNFlJu5eeo1H
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.x.com/premiairracing