Xiberras pleased by debut double finish

Having both PremiAir Racing cars reach the chequered flag in the team's Bathurst debut has delighted Peter Xiberras.

James Golding/Dylan O’Keeffe came home 12th, with Chris Pither/Cameron Hill 21st.

Golding and O’Keeffe ran in the top 10 before a front bar issue led to splitter repairs.

The Pither/Hill car suffered power steering dramas, and the #22 lost eight laps.

Regardless, Hill stayed out of trouble on his Bathurst debut, and gave the car back to Pither for the run home.

In all, Xiberras was proud of his young team considering his nerves heading into the event.

"After watching or coming to this race for 40-odd years, for some reason today it was the most nerve-wracking race I have ever been too,” Xiberras said.

"One of the other team owners pointed something out to me that I probably didn’t immediately appreciate at the time.

“For a first ever Bathurst having both cars finished, apparently that is quite an achievement to do so.

"I have to say that is a testament to the boys and girls and what they do and the maintenance and all the rest of it.

"Obviously, we had a bit of back luck with Chris’ car with the power steering issue.

“For Jimmy, if it wasn’t for that splitter delaminating, I am pretty confident that he and Dylan would have put us in the top 10 somewhere.

“All round, yes we had a little bit of bad luck, but I think it was a good effort by all.”

Golding started the race among the co-drivers and motored through the field.

The splitter drama sent the entry down the order, before the drivers again battled through.

Golding crossed the line just 1.2s from the top 10, behind two Erebus Commodores.

“We showed pace in wet and dry conditions,” Golding told Supercars’ Cool Down Lap podcast.

“Dyl was super fast out there, there were times when he was top 10 pace despite fuel saving.

“We showed promise all weekend, we showed we were super competitive.

“We can’t let ourselves get down about what happened with the front bar.

“I’m so proud of the whole team, we virtually didn’t put a foot wrong."

The 2022 season will continue at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 28-30.