'Just an honest mistake': Golding shattered by penalty

James Golding has apologised to his team over a costly pit lane speed limiter hiccup that dumped his PremiAir Racing entry down the order at The Bend.

In an AirTouch 500 at The Bend that ran green, the Golding and David Russell Camaro finished 25th, with the sister Richie Stanaway/Nash Morris car 23rd.

Co-drivers Morris and Russell started from 19th and 22nd respectively, and climbed through the field early to offer hope of a strong result.

However, Morris dropped to the back with a right rear puncture, while Russell was pinged with a five-second penalty over contact with Jordan Boys.

The Golding/Russell Chevrolet found the grass twice, and was also turned around by Kai Allen on lap 74.

However, the damage was done earlier when Golding accidentally hit the pit lane speed limiter button off before the end of the lane. The stewards report revealed Golding had exceeded the limit by 9.4km/h. The result? A drive-through penalty.

“I am really sorry to the whole team, ultimately the mistake was mine with the pit speed,” Golding said.

“It was just an honest mistake, I accidentally hit the button – I wasn’t trying to get an advantage of anything, it was just a clear mistake.

"So, really disappointing – obviously we had a lot of other things that didn’t go our way as well, the penalty with D-Russ, and a few other bits and bobs, so it wasn’t our day but ultimately, that kind of really ruined the result, so I am really sorry to the whole team.

"The car did feel a lot better, I think we were a lot more competitive than we what were the whole weekend, so thanks to the boys for tuning it up and giving us a better car today.

"But yeah, disappointing, glad to get the whole weekend in, all the laps in, finish everything, just now got to go through and knuckle down and work out what we need to come out swinging at Bathurst.”

The biggest damage was on the scoreboard, Golding now 220 points away from 10th, with PremiAir dropping to 10th in the teams' championship. PremiAir Racing Competition Director Ludo Lacroix was disappointed by the day, stating the result across both cars was “poor."

“In terms of pace, we were in the window you know of top 15, top 10. At one stage we were actually really fast,” Lacroix said.

"But, yeah a PLP on one car, a flat tyre on the first lap [on the other], a bit of delamination on lap 20-something… we went twice through the grass on #31, and that costs every time another 10, another 10, another 40 seconds in pit lane… so at some stage you end up background, and that is where we were.

"Our result is poor because there are too many little mistakes which are costing every time, 20 seconds, 40 seconds, and etc etc… it is an accumulation, and both cars had a bit of that unfortunately.

"Early on it was #62, and then later on, we were doing a good job for #31, then we had a five second penalty for an incident around the start on the first lap which put us a bit on the back foot on car #31.

“After we then get a PLP on the change of driver then that is very expensive, and it is actually probably close to the 40 second drop, so you have lost five seconds and then 40 seconds, so you have lost 45 seconds just there, boom already."