How U-turn on Triple Eight ways finally unlocked Stanaway

Tasmania could prove a watershed moment for Richie Stanaway, who unlocked genuine speed in his PremiAir Racing Chevrolet on a weekend he shifted away from Triple Eight set-ups.

The New Zealander brought home an impressive fifth place finish in Sunday's 200km race in Tasmania, one position behind teammate and early leader James Golding.

Stanaway's first three rounds with PremiAir had started with combined practice results of 13th (Sydney), Melbourne (seventh) and 17th (Taupō), putting the #62 Camaro driver on the "back foot" for qualifying, as he explained in the Friday Tasmania press conference.

Stanaway landed himself in that press conference courtesy of a run to second on Friday at Symmons Plains, on what was the first attempt at using a direction he devised with engineer Ludo Lacroix.

It was a move away from the data supplied by Triple Eight, which has alliance with PremiAir.

Speaking after Sunday's race, Stanaway admitted he has to "sometimes go backwards to go forwards," given he missed the top 10 twice in Saturday qualifying, but insisted he learned plenty.

“It’s not so simple, to just copy and paste. I thought it would be, and when I turned up to the first race… I think it’s just a process of trialling what works and what doesn't," Stanaway said on Supercars' Cool Down Lap podcast.

“And when you go the wrong way, you get punished for it pretty heavily, especially at a track like this, where the whole field is spread, by such a small margin.

“We learned a lot this weekend. We paid a bit of a price for it with some of the performance, but you have to kind of sometimes go backwards to go forwards.”

Second in practice was "unexpected" for Stanaway, with Lacroix revealing improvement on braking. Come qualifying, Stanaway was 14th for the first session, before a leaky valve on his front left tyre left him 23rd. After racing to 11th in the first Saturday race, Stanaway was turned around and suffered steering damage in the second, finishing 22nd.

Stanaway and Lacroix got the #62 to the Sunday Shootout, starting sixth, with the Kiwi rejoining fourth on the road after the Safety Car. He rejoined in 14th after his second stop, and powered to fifth by the final lap. Crucially, Stanaway felt there was "more there for the taking."

“I would've loved a podium, that was my target for the day. I haven't had one before as a primary driver, it's a bit of a monkey that I need to get off my back," said Stanaway, who marked his 100th race with a top five.

“I was hoping today would be the day, but we just fell a little short, unfortunately. But it's nice to be within striking distance.”

Lacroix added: “Today we wanted to consolidate what we have seen, score points, not lose points, and that was the way to do a simple strategy and run the car with the speed and the driver with the speed, so they can measure themselves against the others and think of what we need to improve next time.

"I am very happy with that and for them and I am happy with the direction. It will be a grind again to head to Perth and understand everything.”

Stanaway moved from 22nd to 18th in points, and gained 39 points relative to 10th place.