PremiAir engineer sets bar even higher for Golding

Victory and a top five championship result are on the PremiAir Nulon Racing engineer Romy Mayer's wish list in 2025 for James Golding, who looms as a dark horse for the coming season.

Golding finished a career-best seventh in the championship this year, taking his first pole position and podium at Hidden Valley and Sandown respectively.

The Victorian held fifth in the championship in the second half of the season, before a fast-finishing Thomas Randle and Matt Payne got ahead in the final races. Through 24 races and 12 rounds, Randle, Payne and Golding were covered by just 41 points.

It's set to be a big 2025 for both driver and engineer, with Mayer expecting her second child in autumn next year.

Having ticked plenty of boxes in 2024, Mayer was pleased with seventh, telling Supercars' Schick Cool Down Lap podcast: "I think it's a great result, especially for the team.

"We got some momentum straight out of the gate and obviously have some ups and downs. But I think it's a part of our learning curve for PremiAir Racing, having these little bumps in the way, but I think seventh overall is pretty cool."

When asked if the goal for 2025 was to finish fifth or better, Mayer replied: "Oh yeah, 100 percent.

"We were in the top five in the championship, it was all about holding that. I know it will be hard. But yeah, top five definitely for next year.

"That's what we actually hope for the rest of the year, after the podium in Sandown. Gold Coast, we had a very strong pace as well. And then a couple incidents there put us back.

"So we are happy and looking forward to win next year, 100 percent."

The team welcomes Richie Stanaway in 2025, with Tim Slade retiring. With Stanaway joining, PremiAir Nulon Racing now has a Bathurst and Sandown winner on its books, with the New Zealander determined to make the most of his latest opportunity.

Since joining midway through 2022, however, Golding has led the way for Peter Xiberras' team, with the 28-year-old's impact recognised by the team owner himself.

“It has been another huge year, there is absolutely no doubt about that,” Xiberras said.

“We have been working relentlessly at the track and in the workshop to take steps forward in every aspect of our racing program, and it has been so pleasing to see that effort paying off.

“When you look at our Supercars program, the progress is clear. In 2022, we enjoyed two Top Ten Shootouts and five top 10 race finishes. In 2023, we brought home no less than 10 Top Ten Shootouts appearances and 14 Top Ten race finishes.

“Now in 2024, we have celebrated our first podium finish and did so at one of the biggest events of the year, the Sandown 500, while also enjoying our first pole position which was set in Darwin in both qualifying and the subsequent Shootout, while tallying up 15 top 10 race results including five in the top five, and 18 top 10 qualifying positions – with four of those in the top five and 10 of those set in Shootouts.

“Outside of ‘the numbers’, our working group is more knowledgeable and working together better than ever before, which is so important in a high-stakes, high-paced competition such as Supercars."