PremiAir Racing will welcome back race engineer Sheldon Auhl for the Repco Bathurst 1000 after the birth of his child.
Auhl missed the last event at Pukekohe due to the impending arrival of a baby, with Simon Hodge, a race engineer from Triple Eight’s Super2 squad stepping in.
The timing of Auhl’s return was up in the air, however, Team Principal Matt Cook has confirmed he will be back for the Great Race.
“Sheldon’s [partner has had the] baby and he’s back, and that’s good,” Cook told Speedcafe.com.
“Family always comes first no matter what. He’s had a healthy little baby and he can’t wait to get back.
“[They] only had the baby on Monday and he lives in Perth.”
Auhl will return to guide the Chris Pither/Cameron Hill entry at Mount Panorama, also continuing on the #22 ZB Commodore at the following Gold Coast and Adelaide events.
He had previously engineered James Golding before his absence, which led to the newly signed Geoffrey Slater working with Golding in New Zealand.
Slater will continue for the final three events on the #31 Subway-backed ZB Commodore of Golding, who will share with Dylan O’Keeffe at Bathurst.
“There are only two more races to go after that so we’ll leave Geoff where he is and leave Sheldon where he is,” added Cook.
Born out of the ashes of Team Sydney ahead of the 2022 season, the squad will technically make its Bathurst 1000 debut under the PremiAir Racing banner.
However, a large portion of the crew has worked in the industry for a number of years, including Cook, who came across from Triple Eight.
Triple Eight Super2 driver, Hill, previously told this website the familiar faces at the team has helped him settle into the co-driver role.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been to Bathurst in the pit of your stomach you’re still a little bit nervous about it,” added Cook.
“We’ve got a lot of experience here and that’s one hundred percent going to help, but you’d be foolish to think nobody is a little bit nervous when they go to Bathurst.
“It shouldn’t be the case because you prep the car the same whether you’re going to Barbagallo or Bathurst but it definitely helps to have a bit of experience here.
“Yes it is the team’s first Bathurst but it definitely helps to have a lot of experience.”
PremiAir Racing completed a pre-Bathurst test at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday.
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