PremiAir Racing is out to show that it is not a “one-trick pony” after an eye-catching performance in the Supercars season-opener in Newcastle, according to Team Principal Matty Cook.

James Golding and Tim Slade both made the top 10 on the starting grid for both encounters at the Thrifty Newcastle 500, the former being the best-qualifying Chevrolet driver for Race 2, when both went on to finish in the top 10 also.

They might have done the same on the afternoon prior, if not for mishaps both in pit lane and then on the race track proper.

Golding’s Nulon Camaro had a fuel-filling issue while there was trouble changing a wheel on Slade’s, which was later given a mechanical black flag for flailing bodywork.

Ahead of the Beaurepaires Melbourne SuperSprint, Cook identified multiple objectives for the second-year Repco Supercars Championship team.

“The biggest thing is trying to replicate the speed that we had in Newcastle, and we’re pretty confident we can do that,” he told Speedcafe.com.

“You don’t want to be a one-trick pony or just be quick for one race. Sometimes, you put a brand-new tyre on and you go fast and you don’t really know why and how, but we were fast in most of the practice sessions and quali and everything, so we genuinely had two fast cars all weekend.

“We want to try and continue that on for next week, but as everyone has got to, focus on the pit stop practice; it’s these new nuts, it’s these new wheels…

“I think everyone’s still going to be pretty cautious about that and obviously everyone wants to go as fast as they can in the pit stop, we can’t be hidden by the fuel now – it’s going to be tyres only – so we need to make sure we do a nice, consistent stop, and we don’t strip any nuts or have any issues.

“So that’s been our focus, just continuing on, mastering our pit stops.”

Team owner Peter Xiberras is of a similar mindset.

“When Saturday came around and we put both cars in the top 10 – it was the first time we had both cars in the Top 10 Shootout – it was really exciting and a great lift for the guys,” he told Speedcafe.com of the Newcastle performance.

“After that, look, I’m not going to make excuses; we just made a lot of silly, rookie mistakes which ultimately cost us big time and we only had ourselves to blame.

“I was very proud of the guys with the way we regrouped and worked out where things went wrong, and [on the Sunday] we came out very strong in qualifying again – two top 10s – and brought two cars home in the top 10.

“So, for a brand-new car, first hit-out, couldn’t be any happier.”

Looking ahead to Albert Park, Xiberras remarked, “We’ve got a lot to do. As much as the result was pleasing, we’ve still got a long, long way to go.

“For us to think that we’re really getting close to the big boys, we’re fooling ourselves. So, we’ve got a lot to do, but this is definitely a great confidence-builder for the team.”

Golding is ninth in the drivers’ championship and Slade 15th, while PremiAir sits seventh in the teams’ standings ahead of the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix, where Supercars is on-track from Thursday.