Stanaway was dumped mid-season by Grove Racing who took an early opportunity to sign Dick Johnson Racing co-driver and Super2 Series winner Kai Allen for 2025.
Stanaway’s season to that point hadn’t been flash by comparison to his younger, less experienced teammate Matthew Payne.
Payne had multiple podium finishes, a pole position, and one win while Stanaway had only cracked the top five once in the first race of the season at the Bathurst 500.
Since news of his impending departure, Stanaway has found form. Notwithstanding an engine failure at the Sandown 500, the Kiwi showed promising signs.
Then, at the Bathurst 1000, he was on course to finish sixth with Dale Wood until his Ford Mustang ran out of fuel on the last lap and they wound up ninth.
At the Gold Coast 500, Stanaway qualified on provisional pole for Race 21 before finishing ninth with an ill-handling car. He was seventh in Race 22 a day later.
Speaking on the latest Rusty’s Garage Motorsport Brief podcast, Murphy said Stanaway has shifted his mindset since realising his time at Grove Racing was up.
“I’m just happy to see that he is [racing in 2025] since getting I suppose the slap in the face from Groves saying, ‘Well, we don’t want you next year’, and sort of having to deal with that again and then turn things around and realise that at that moment I’ve got nothing to lose, I need to free up the way I’ve been driving, which he did,” Murphy explained.
“That was maybe part of the decision process. He became a little bit too concerned at Groves there about performance and he was not allowing his natural ability and natural flow determine the outcome. Once he got released and knowing that he wasn’t going to be driving in ‘25 at Groves, his performances have got better again.
“He’s just realised there’s nothing to lose and that’s the way he needs to drive all the time is ‘I’ve got nothing to lose, I’ve just got to play my natural game’ and let it happen.
“He’s been particularly quick in the last little while and got in the Shootout two days running at the Gold Coast. The car didn’t deliver in the race on Saturday at the Gold Coast, it was better on Sunday, but strategically I think the team made a bit of a meal of it. I don’t know why you’d stay out and lose track position like that both days, but anyway, that’s what’s happened.”
Stanaway is a matter of months away from joining his sixth different Supercars team in less than a decade.
With his mind frame in the right space, there’s reason to be optimistic in Murphy’s eyes.
“He’s pretty prepared now for the end of the year and showcasing his speed again and it’s going to be a different environment at PremiAir Racing,” Murphy explained.
“Pete Xiberras is very focused, committed, and there’s some great people there and I think that environment alongside Jimmy Golding… he and Matt Payne have been great as teammates, they’ve really enjoyed each other and I think they get on really, really well, but he’ll fall into a really nice relationship again with Jimmy Golding there as a good pair.
“PremiAir have been doing a good job, particularly with Jimmy’s car in the last little while.”
Stanaway will replace Tim Slade at PremiAir Racing, who is set to return to co-driving in 2025.
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It’s another lifeline for the Kiwi who has been in and out of the sport since his debut in 2016 with Tickford Racing (ne Prodrive Racing) surrogate Super Black Racing.
After success with the then-known Prodrive Racing in the 2017 Sandown 500, a lacklustre first full season with the team in 2018 followed before joining Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2019.
He walked away from the sport at the end of the year only to return in 2022 with Murphy for a one-off start in the Bathurst 1000.
With Shane van Gisbergen, he won the 2023 Bathurst 1000 before being given a one-year full-time deal with Grove Racing for 2024.
The PremiAir drive will mark a return to Triple Eight Race Engineering-built machinery for Stanaway, having last driven a Chevrolet Camaro with Red Bull Ampol Racing in the 2023 Great Race.
Stanaway currently sits 16th in the drivers’ championship with two races remaining in the year.
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