12 Hour cameo beneficial for PremiAir despite DNF
A Bathurst 12 Hour appearance has proven beneficial for James Golding and PremiAir Racing ahead of the 2023 Supercars season.
Golding shared a PremiAir/Schumacher Motorsport-run Audi with Frédéric Vervisch and Brad Schumacher last weekend.
The #55 Fuchs-backed car ran as high as first in Pro-Am and eighth outright before trouble struck.
Radio dramas cost the #55 four laps, before engine issues saw the entry retire in the 10th hour of the race.
While the race didn’t go to plan, the last-minute entry proved pivotal for PremiAir staff to prepare for the forthcoming Supercars season.
It also helped Golding to valuable track time ahead of his first full Supercars season since 2019.
"On my side of things, I had a pretty good race. Obviously, we had a few dramas as a team throughout the day, but I thoroughly enjoyed it," Golding said.
"I got all my practice sessions in, and my race runs, up to the last one where I was about to head out again and unfortunately didn’t get to go out.
"I learnt a lot, and really enjoyed the new challenge of driving a GT3 car. Overall, I am still pretty pleased with the experience.
"And any time you drive around Bathurst is beneficial. Of course, it will be a totally different kettle of fish when I jump in to the Gen3 Supercar at Bathurst.
"But it is more about learning new things about different cars and taking those lessons into other forms of racing where you might need to use the same techniques which can transfer across.
"It is more the overall experience and keeping sharp."
The team’s 12 Hour cameo came just four days before PremiAir Racing debuts its new Gen3 Camaros at Queensland Raceway.
PremiAir Racing staff have helped assemble its new cars at Triple Eight’s Banyo headquarters.
PremiAir will join Triple Eight, Dick Johnson Racing and Matt Stone Racing at Queensland Raceway on Thursday.
While the team seemed a duck out of water at the 12 Hour, Team Principal Matt Cook was pleased to shake out the cobwebs ahead of a big 2023 for the team, which also continues its successful drag racing program.
“This all came together very last minute for us, but we were happy to take on the challenge and give our drivers a lot of laps outside of our Supercar program,” Cook added.
“We managed to execute quite well with not only the race but also a test day just prior.
“We had a pretty pacey car – we were up against professional teams that travel around the world doing this and we definitely held our own.
“It wasn’t a great end to something that could have been a good result, but with those kinds of failures if you don’t bring it in you risk a major failure, and the Audis already struggle for a bit of top end at that particular track.
“So going down a couple of horsepower makes it a whole lot harder, so we decided to retire the car and limit a massive repair bill.
“That saw us walk away a little deflated, but that’s racing, and I think we can hold our heads high with how we performed up to that point in what was our first time at this exceptionally competitive event."
The 2023 Repco Supercars Championship will commence in Newcastle on March 10-12.
Tickets are on sale on Supercars.com and Ticketek.com.
