PremiAir reveals new race number for Stanaway

PremiAir Racing and Richie Stanaway will race with a new number in 2025, the team has announced.

Stanaway arrives at the team in the place of Tim Slade, who retired at the end of the 2024 campaign. Slade raced with the #23 in 2023 and 2024, but that will make way for the #62, a number previously sported by Stanaway's father Neville.

Stanaway started his racing career with the #62, but 2025 marks the first time the 2023 Bathurst winner will be able to race under it professionally.

It will also be the first time since the end of 2017 that the #62 has been run in Supercars, with the number used at Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport by Alex Rullo, Jack Perkins and Taz Douglas.

Jim Richards also raced with the #62 during his championship-winning 1985 season on his BMW 635 CSi. Coincidentally, Richards' then teammate Neville Crichton raced with the #31, which Stanaway's PremiAir teammate James Golding currently uses.

It was also associated with the late Wayne Russell, who raced with it during the 1990s. The #62 also featured in the hit NASCAR-inspired film Talladega Nights.

It will be the second new-for-2025 number on the grid, with Dick Johnson Racing recruit Brodie Kostecki also set for a number change.

“I am excited to roll out on the track with PremiAir Racing for the 2025 Supercars season with the #62 emblazoned on the side of my Camaro,” Stanaway said.

“I started out racing with the #62, following in the footsteps of my dad, who is a leading super stock competitor at home in New Zealand, so to have the chance now to race with it professionally for the first time does mean a lot to me.

“I would like to thank Peter Xiberras for encouraging me to select a race number that meant something personally to me and allowing me this opportunity.

“As we count down to the new season, I couldn’t be more pleased with how my early inductions with this great team of people have gone and I am so thrilled with our plans for the coming year.”

Stanaway replaces the retired Tim Slade at the Arundel-based outfit, which once again is set to field two PremiAir Racing Camaros in what will be its fourth full-time season as part of the Championship – the #62 for Stanaway and the #31 for returning driver, Jimmy Golding.

“The final countdown to the start of the 2025 season is well and truly on and I have been very impressed with how Richie is already slotting into our team and how he is preparing alongside Jimmy for what is set to be a huge year ahead,” Xiberras said.

“I am pleased also that we have been able to give him the opportunity to race with his dad’s number when he rolls out with us this year.

“Wherever possible I like to encourage my drivers to select a race number that has personal meaning to them, and I am so glad we have been able to facilitate this for Richie ahead of the start of the new season.

“As we get ready for our fourth year in this intense category, we are buoyed by the significant gains we made over the past year and with a fantastic team behind us and Jimmy and Richie at the wheel, I am confident we have many more gains ahead of us to come – watch this space.”

Stanaway will make his competitive PremiAir debut at Sydney Motorsport Park on February 21-23.