Repco Supercars Championship newcomers PremiAir Racing will face a different sort of challenge at the Beaurepaires Melbourne 400 this weekend, being without team owner Peter Xiberras for the first time.

While Round 3 of the Supercars season unfolds at Albert Park in Melbourne, Xiberras will be on the other side of the country with drag racing commitments.

Specifically, Xiberras will himself be competing in Perth, where Round 3 of the Burson Auto Parts Australian Top Fuel Championship takes place across April 8-9.

“This weekend is the first of at least three instances this year that PremiAir Racing will be competing in both Supercars and Top Fuel on the same weekend,” Xiberras said.

“Thankfully, our team is more than up to the challenge.

“We have a great bunch of people across both our drag racing and Supercars programmes, and everyone is dedicated to doing the absolute best we can to make the most of the opportunities ahead of us.”

PremiAir Racing team manager Dan Ensor will lead the Supercars outfit on the ground in Xiberras’ absence, as drivers Chris Pither and Garry Jacobson seek to build on a promising showing at Symmons Plains late last month.

“After just two rounds of Supercars competition as PremiAir Racing, Garry, Chris and their respective crews are really starting to gel already and I expect to see that continuing in Melbourne, further aided by the more relaxed schedule dictated by qualifying and the races being stretched across the four-day format,” Xiberras continued.

“I expect that as they continue to work together, we will see their rapport growing and our racing packages improving, leading to more consistency and solid results.

“In Perth, we are third in the Top Fuel championship with four rounds left to run, so we will be doing all we can to bring home the maximum number of points we can and in the process, hopefully secure a Gold ANDRA Christmas Tree event-winning trophy.

“With the impacts of COVID-19 we haven’t been able to race in Perth since March 2020.

“At that event, we match raced with Phil Lamattina in front of a big crowd and it was such a fun time, so we are definitely very excited that this time we will be heading over to race for championship points.”

It was confirmed yesterday that Subway has extended its naming rights support on Jacobson’s #76 ZB Commodore for another two rounds, starting with Albert Park.