Bathurst or bust for James Golding/Richie Stanaway
Golding 87 points behind 10th with one round before cut
Stanaway believes BRT can pull off Bathurst heist
The rallying cry for James Golding and Richie Stanaway is clear — win Bathurst, and the rest will take care of itself.
The Golding/Stanaway Ford represents one of the most tantalising prospects at this year’s Repco Bathurst 1000, for more reasons than one.
Golding is chasing redemption for last year’s controversial defeat, after he was penalised over a late clash with Cooper Murray.
Stanaway is chasing his own redemption, having parted ways with PremiAir Racing with two rounds left, leaving his career in limbo.
Most of all, both drivers are smarting after a double Blanchard Racing Team disqualification at The Bend left Golding’s season hanging by a thread.
Golding arrives at the Mountain 87 points behind 10th position, and in need of a big result in the Great Race to deliver a Finals miracle.
The 30-year-old needs to jump four drivers to get there: Jack Le Brocq holds 10th spot, with Andre Heimgartner (-62), Thomas Randle (-63) and Jayden Ojeda (-70) ahead.
Critically, Golding — who claimed podiums in Sydney and Christchurch, and BRT's maiden pole in Sydney — isn’t giving up, recently telling media: “Realistically it’s more difficult, but it's not like it's basically impossible.
“We've just gotta make sure we execute our part and be in front of those guys at the end of the day. For us going to Bathurst, we've just gotta do the best we possibly can and where everyone else finishes, we can't control.”
What BRT can control is making the right calls, and delivering a fast car.
Stanaway lamented the team’s inability to do so at The Bend, the #7 only coming alive in the morning Warm Up. By then, damage had been done, Golding only 18th in qualifying.
The team can’t rely on rain to bring Stanaway back into it, like it did at The Bend when the enigmatic Kiwi chewed through the field.
“[The DSQ was] a tough one for everyone,” Stanaway told Supercars.com.
"But as long as we use it to come back stronger at Bathurst and not let it get us down, and just use it to come back stronger, then it may help us at Bathurst to get a good result there.
"Now that we've had that big setback and Jimmy's now further out of the Finals contention than what we would've liked, we’ve just got to do everything we can to try and win that race. That's the mentality we need to take to Bathurst.
“We need to go there with an aggressive mindset, and I think we have the team to do it.”
Track action at Mount Panorama commences on Thursday October 8.
