Golding, PremiAir stunned by Darwin fall off
PremiAir Racing endure torrid weekend in Darwin
James Golding and Richie Stanaway combine for one top 15 finish between them
Golding claimed breakthrough pole position in Darwin 12 months ago
In 2024, James Golding and PremiAir Racing were arguably the toast of the Supercars paddock after a stunning breakthrough pole position and two fourth place finishes at the Darwin Triple Crown.
12 months later, and the story couldn't be any more different for Peter Xiberras' team, with Golding and teammate Richie Stanaway only recording one top 15 finish between them over the three races.
Stanaway's difficult season was only further compounded by accident damage in Race 17, before a power steering failure ruled him out of Race 18 in a nightmare Saturday.
Many looked to Golding to potentially play himself into the top 10 in points in Darwin, however the #31 Camaro left the weekend just 14th in points, 83 points behind Anton De Pasquale in the all-important 10th place.
By comparison, Golding was a superb fifth in the standings after Darwin last year, 82 points inside the top 10. Ironically, it was Stanaway in 10th for his former home at Penrite Racing.
In a post-event media release, the 29-year-old Victorian admits that it is going to take a big effort from both himself and PremiAir to rally ahead of the crucial Enduro Cup, where Golding resumes a trophy-winning combination with David Russell.
“It was a bit of an average day for us today. We thought we had a bit of a plan of attack after going through everything last night, but we still missed the mark," said Golding.
"So, we struggled in qualifying and also in racing conditions. It was pretty disappointing as at the end of this round we thought we were going to be pretty strong, but that wasn’t the case.
"We have a lot to work through to try and find out why as we are a fair way off the mark of where we need to be.
"We have to tune it up between now and Townsville and come out swinging there because everyone is getting away in the points and we need to pull our finger out. Yeah, it is time to work harder.”
It was a turbulent week for PremiAir, with former CEO Gwyn Dolphin departing the team mere weeks after starting his tenure ahead of the Tasmania Super 440 on May 9-11.
PremiAir Racing Competition Director Ludo Lacroix said that that car speed was lacking so severely for both Golding and Stanaway, that even positional gains from strategy were quickly nullified.
“It was another challenging day at work for us. We didn’t qualify where we wanted to qualify, in the heat of the day in Darwin it is difficult," said Lacroix.
"At the start we were okay but then the first lap wasn’t…we ended up P20/P21 and from there we gained a few spots with a bit of strategy and a bit of this and a bit of that, but we didn’t have the pace to go much forward, so to be fair, that is where we ended up being in reality.”
The 2025 Repco Supercars Championship continues at the NTI Townsville 500 from July 11-13. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
