'The opportunity was there': PremiAir adamant on Sydney tyre gamble

PremiAir Racing went all in on Sunday at the DUNLOP Sydney 500. Had it been for just a little bit more rain, they might've won the jackpot.

As rain bore down on Sydney Motorsport Park, PremiAir supremo Roland Dane made the call to bring both Jayden Ojeda and Declan Fraser into the lane as the rain began to drizzle, pre-empting a potential downpour.

From 13th and 21st on the road, there was little to lose for PremiAir, and when the track was at it's wettest it was lineball as to whether or not the leaders would dive in or not.

However, it wouldn't get any wetter, and within five laps both of the Camaros had dived back into the lane to put slick tyres back on.

Whilst it was a gamble that didn't work, PremiAir Team Owner Peter Xiberras' message post-race was clear: it was an opportunity that was too good to pass up.

“The early switch to wets was like putting it all on black at the casino," reflected Xiberras.

"The opportunity was there to be the lucky dogs, but it did not fall our way this time.

“We have no regrets, though. We backed ourselves. And if that rain had arrived and hung around for a bit like we all thought it would, we would have been in the box seat, but that’s racing.”

New signing Jayden Ojeda was most heavily impacted, falling back to 19th at the flag after he made his third stop in addition to the two compulsory stops of the day.

When asked on the Cool Down Lap presented by Equip Super if he wanted more rain, Ojeda was cheeky in his response, knowing that he wasn't far away from pulling a stunning upset: "Yeah 100%

"I was looking at every drop and you saw the storm cloud approaching from Turn 2 and 4 and you were like 'Come on just keep going, keep going, keep going!'

One of the big positives from the weekend was Ojeda setting the new lap record in the first race of the season under lights, however that evident speed couldn't be converted into a top 10 result.

"It wasn't our dream first round per se, but there was a lot of positives to take away," Ojeda said.

"We took a gamble in that last race on the wet, which didn't work, but we pulled our way back from 19th to be driving ahead of Cam and Chaz, and they went on to finish third and fourth, so all in all plenty of positives to take away.

"The pace when we came back out on the slick in that last stint was really good, just starting to get my head around these cars and figure out what they want.

"Still a lot of knowledge to be had in understanding the setup and just trying to get those little intricacies right that you need to race at front consistently."

Fraser, meanwhile, admitted to having to shake a bit of rust, having completed his first full-time Supercars race in 817 days in the opening 100km sprint on Friday.

Fraser matched Ojeda's result of 13th on road in a solid run on Saturday, though that would become 12th following Chaz Mostert's disqualification.

“It was pretty fun… until it wasn’t. We bet it all on black and didn’t win big, but that’s racing. Sometimes you roll the dice and it doesn’t fall your way. That’s just the gamble we took as a team," said Fraser after Sunday.

"All in all though, I’m really happy with the progress we made. Qualifying had been a weak point for us coming into the weekend, and today we nearly made the Top 10 Shootout, missing it by just over half a tenth. That’s a big step forward.

"For me personally, I’m still blowing the cobwebs out and getting back into the rhythm of Supercars racing. It’s a very different game to when I was here a couple of years ago.

"I’m proud of the improvement we’ve made, and we’ll keep building. Come AGP, we’ll go again.”

The Melbourne SuperSprint is the next stop in the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship from March 5-8.