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PremiAir last week confirmed the signing of Grove Racing outcast Stanaway, who will replace the retiring Tim Slade in the two-car Chevrolet Camaro outfit.
Stanaway, 32, is again looking to rebuild a career that suffered early setbacks with disastrous full-time Supercars seasons at Tickford Racing and GRM in 2018 and ’19 respectively.
The latter year ended with Stanaway ‘retiring’ to New Zealand and GRM shutting its Supercars outfit, which also left Golding off the grid.
“I feel good having Richie as my teammate again,” Golding told Speedcafe, having rebuilt his own Supercars career since returning with PremiAir midway through 2022.
“We got on really well when we raced together at Garry Rogers Motorsport, we had lots of fun times on and off the track, so I don’t see it being any different now.
“I think we’ve sort of gone away and come back to the sport both as well, so we have got a common journey. Obviously two different backgrounds but we have both had a break and then come back.
“We’ve got more experience and driven for different teams, so I think putting our knowledge together in addition to the team’s development over the last 12 to 18 months as well is going to be really good.
“I think we’re going to be a strong force come next year.”
While the results didn’t ultimately show it due to numerous issues for Stanaway, the duo were closely matched on pace during their season together in 2019.
Golding feels that intra-team competition will be important in making PremiAir a regular front-running force.
“Results-wise I think I was a bit better off than Richie, but more often than not we were pretty close, which is good to be competitive with each other and push other,” reflected Golding.
“That’s going to be important if we want to run at the front next year consistently, so I can’t wait to get into it and start working with Richie.
“It’s going to be great for the team and I’m looking forward to getting some good results.”
Stanaway is the latest addition to the burgeoning PremiAir outfit.
Owner Peter Xiberras has invested heavily in Triple Eight-built cars and key technical staff, including Ludo Lacroix, and was rewarded with a maiden podium finish at Sandown last month.
“The team has got a pretty good base but also we still have got a lot of improvement to do as well to take it to the top teams consistently and go for race wins,” Golding said.
“As I’ve said numerous times with different people coming onboard, like Ludo, (co-driver) Dave Russell, Richie no different, bringing more experience to the team and people that have been successful in different parts of their careers is really important to get to where we want to go.”
Golding enters the final two events of 2024 an impressive fifth in the championship following a sixth-place finish alongside Russell at the Bathurst 1000.
While Golding would like to hold onto that position, his aim is firmly on scoring the squad’s maiden race win.
“Whether we finish fifth, sixth, seventh, fourth in the championship, we’re not going to remember it next year, so we’re going to be going for podiums and race wins,” he said.
“We really are going to be aiming for the podium and race wins, the points will look after themselves.”
