PremiAir Racing has raced through for P4 (Golding) and P5 (Stanaway) in Sunday’s 78-lap two-stop Supercars race 13 at Symmons Plains Raceway in Tasmania.
The result combines with two top ten results in Saturday’s races 11 (P9) and 12 (P6) to ensure a solid points haul for the team as the Tasmania Super 440 – which included Richie Stanaway’s 100th Supercars race today – came to a close.
For a moment, it looked like the team might even bring home their second podium, or perhaps even a breakthrough race win, with Jimmy Golding pulling off an incredible start to take the #31 PremiAir Racing Camaro from P4 to the lead by turn 2.
Golding had started on the second row of the grid after both he and team-mate Stanaway made it to the top ten shootout earlier in the day, with the #31 improving in that shootout from P9 to a P4 starting position, while Stanaway improved from P8 to P6 in the #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro.
After his incredible start which was repeatedly lauded by the commentary team, Golding would hold the race lead for 29 laps, at which point he and then second-placed Broc Feeney dived into the pits on lap 30 under safety car conditions.
It was here in the lane that Feeney was able to jump Golding with a slightly quicker pit stop, seeing Golding rejoin just behind as the field continued to be controlled by the safety car.
The race resumed on lap 34, with Golding putting in a fantastic drive to retain second position behind Feeney until lap 53, when a move by James Courtney – who was a lap down – shuffled Golding to the outside and allowed Ryan Wood – who was racing for position – to pass from behind, moving Golding into P3.
As the second round of pit stops for those who hadn’t double-stopped under the safety car unfolded, Golding again took control of the race for a short time before heading to the pits himself on lap 60.
He resumed in P7, from where he fought hard to get himself back into P4 and in sight of P3 by the time the checkered flags flew.
While all this was going on, Richie Stanaway in the #62 PremiAir Racing Camaro was putting in his own impressive drive to advance through the field as he celebrated his 100th Supercars race start.
“It has been a great day for us,” commented Stanaway. “It was a nice recovery from yesterday – we had a nice solid qualifying and we backed it up with a solid race, so I am pretty happy, and it is a nice way to end the weekend.
“It is my best result so far for the team and my first shootout for the team. It was sort of about time I started to get some runs on the board with the slow start to the year and hopefully now we can continue building momentum throughout the year.”
The Kiwi started the race P6 on the grid after his shootout performance and held strong in p7 across the early stages of the race before pitting from P6 on lap 29.
A slick stop saw him rejoin fourth on the road, a position he maintained until his next pit stop on lap 57 with a determined and skilled drive at the wheel of the #62.
Following that second stop, another quick effort from the team, he rejoined in P14 before climbing his way back through to P8 by lap 60, P6 by lap 66 and into P5 on the final lap to ensure a ‘double top five’ result for PremiAir Racing.
PremiAir Racing will next be on-track for the Perth Super 440 across June 6-8.
Comments