Stanaway dealt hammer blow with Gold Coast suspension failure

With a hard-earned top 10 in the offing, Richie Stanaway was again deserted by Lady Luck towards the end of the Gold Coast finale.

The PremiAir Racing driver was one of the standouts on Sunday, qualifying sixth and reaching the Shootout, where he cut the front chicane.

While a higher grid slot went begging, Stanaway was on a mission in the race, and was firmly in the frame for his first top 10 finish since Ipswich.

However, a wrong-place-wrong-time moment cost Stanaway dearly, the #62 PremiAir Chevrolet clouting the stricken James Courtney in the closing laps.

Contact between Anton De Pasquale and Courtney sent the latter into the barriers at Turn 11, with Stanaway hitting the Snowy River Caravans Ford.

Courtney was out on the spot, triggering a Safety Car, while Stanaway pressed on. However, straight after the restart, a suspension sent Stanaway down the Turn 11 escape road, and out.

It was a hammer blow on a day Stanaway was set for a top 10, just days after PremiAir Racing confirmed his exit from the team. Teammate James Golding, meanwhile, was then undone by a post-race penalty over a Safety Car infringement.

“We were having a pretty solid run today sitting in the mix and managing things well strategy-wise,” the 2023 Bathurst winner said.

"Unfortunately, with just a few laps to go, we had a suspension failure that ended our race early. It is a disappointing way to finish after the effort from everyone across the weekend.

"The team gave me a fast car and worked hard all day, and I really appreciate that. We’ll regroup, reset, come back at Sandown.”

Stanaway left nothing on the table in the run home, colliding with Brodie Kostecki out of the final corner as they disputed 10th. De Pasquale, Ryan Wood and Aaron Cameron got by.

Earlier, Stanaway did cop a five-second careless driving penalty over contact with De Pasquale at Turn 11, with the #18 Cub Cadet Chevrolet losing two positions.

As fate would have it, De Pasquale was penalised to the tune of 15 seconds over the Courtney hit, given the Blanchard Ford was taken out of contention entirely.

Stanaway got back past Cameron and Kostecki before he hit Courtney, and suffered the failure through the Beach Chicane while running 11th with the finish in sight. With De Pasquale penalised, it would have become 10th.

“He has hit Courtney and that has damaged something by the look of it – a couple of laps later after the back chicane, which is the big chicane where you jump in the air, the suspension has collapsed,” Competition Director Ludo Lacroix explained.

"So unfortunately, that was a DNF for him, he went straight to the escape road, he didn’t crash or anything, just went straight.”