PremiAir confirms engineer change amid impending birth

James Golding will have a new engineer for the opening rounds of the 2025 Repco Supercars Championship, as incumbent Romy Mayer readies for the birth of her second child.

PremiAir Racing announced Monday that Simon Hodge has rejoined the team on a permanent basis for the 2025 season, which begins in Sydney in February.

Hodge previously worked with PremiAir Racing as Golding's Race Engineer while on secondment from Triple Eight Race Engineering for the final three rounds of 2023.

He arrives as Mayer, who helped Golding to a breakthrough pole and podium in 2024, goes on maternity leave. Mayer is expecting the birth of her second child, a daughter, in autumn.

“Everyone at PremiAir Racing is very excited for Romy and her family and can’t wait to meet the new arrival,” PremiAir Racing Team Manager Stephen Robertson said.

“At the same time, we are so pleased that Simon will be returning to our team and helping us continue forward with the work we have been doing over the past 12 months as the new season gets underway.

“Simon and Jimmy have a great relationship, as does Simon and our entire team, and we are set to hit the ground running for 2025."

Golding added: "It's great to be working with Simon once again. Obviously, Romy is going to be absent to have her second child, so I wish her all the best with that. We achieved some great things together last year, so it will be nice to have her back onboard when she is ready..

“Simon and I had some very strong showings the last time we worked together. Now 12 months down the track we have both learnt a lot and we will be putting that into practice for the 2025 season.

“Simon is a young driven individual like myself and I believe his commitment and skills are more than capable of winning in Supercars. I am the most excited I have been heading into a new season. The team's progression has had a major influence on this. Bring on Sydney."

Hodge has worked in the likes of Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Carrera Cup, as well as a driver coach. He has worked in the F3 and S5000 ranks locally and in Asia, before moving across to work on Triple Eight's GT and Super2 programmes.

“I have to say that the team has progressed massively over the ‘24 season," Hodge said.

“They’re definitely on the rise and I’m pumped to be a part of it – bring on Sydney. It’s great to be back with the guys at PremiAir Racing and can’t wait to sink my teeth into everything the 2025 Supercars Championship has in store for us,

“I loved working with Jimmy for the enduros in 2023, and I feel we clicked. Bathurst quali was great, and we had enough pace to grab a surfboard at one point. I’m really keen to build on this with Jimmy in 2025. The team has been working really hard over the last year and I’m confident we have a great 2025 season ahead of us."

Golding will commence his 2025 campaign in Sydney on February 21-23. Tickets for the event are on sale now.