PremiAir assessing Golding damage after dramatic crash
PremiAir Racing assessing James Golding car damage after dramatic crash
Golding escaped scary incident on lap 1 after catching air off Thomas Randle
Victorian driver suffers first DNF in Supercars since 2022 Adelaide 500
PremiAir Racing is currently assessing the damage to James Golding’s Chevrolet following his major Townsville crash.
Golding was wiped out of Saturday’s race at the NTI Townsville 500 in a wild pile-up at Turn 3.
The Victorian, who started 23rd, was running down the order as the field scythed through the opening corners of the race.
A collision between Brad Jones Racing’s Jaxon Evans and Tickford Racing’s Cam Waters sent the latter into a spin in front of the field.
Waters’ teammate Thomas Randle took evasive action and veered right to avoid the Monster Energy Ford.
Golding went right to avoid Randle, but with nowhere to go, lifted over the right wheel arch of the Castrol Mustang and made contact with the wall.
The impact was enough to take Golding out of the race, with the bp pulse Safety Car deployed with the stricken car on the wall.
Remarkably, it brought an end to a stunning 72-race finish streak for Golding, who recorded his first DNF since the 2022 Adelaide 500.
At the time of publication, PremiAir Racing owner Peter Xiberras told Supercars.com his team was still assessing the damage to the car, given it hit the concrete wall with its roof.
The car went into wall on a square angle, which could spare PremiAir and Golding heading into Sunday.
Regardless, the incident was a big blow to Golding’s Finals hopes, with the 29-year-old dropping from 14th to 16th, and is 150 points from 10th heading into Saturday.
“It’s been a rough weekend, and today’s race result wasn’t what we needed, considering we needed the laps today," Golding said in a team release.
"The focus at the start of the race was to get a clear run through and avoid any incidents. I was max awareness, as much as I could, into turn one where there were cars coming together, and I went as tight as I could to avoid them.
"At Turn 3, I could see cars moving around a lot on the outside, so I went as far right as I could, and a car half spun ahead and turned right, which wedged me into the wall. I feel I was lucky not to roll.
"I haven’t seen the car yet, but hopefully, because it hit square on the wall, it won’t be too bad.”
Supercars action resumes on Saturday with Boost Mobile Qualifying at 10:05am AEST, followed by the Boost Mobile Top Ten Shootout at 12:05pm. The final race of the weekend, Race 22, commences at 3:00pm.
Foxtel/Kayo's Saturday coverage commences at 8:00am AEST, with the Seven Network taking live coverage from 12:00pm. Please check local guides.
