Stanaway lifeline confirmed as Supercars silly season nears crunch for ousted champ

Richie Stanaway will join PremiAir Racing next season, saving his Supercars career for a second time in as many years.

Stanaway, the 2023 Bathurst 1000 winner, will replace the retiring Tim Slade at the Gold Coast team.

The Kiwi will partner James Golding for the second time in his career, the pair having previously worked together in 2019 at Garry Rogers Motorsport.

Watch every race of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship LIVE & ad-break free during racing. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.

“I could not be more excited about this opportunity,” Stanaway said.

“The passion and enthusiasm held by Peter and Carmen Xiberras and the entire team is absolutely undeniable, and the commitment they have shown in the three short years they have been a part of the Supercars championship is impressive.

“The results of that are really starting to show, with their first podium coming at Sandown, and I look forward to hopefully being a part of many more great results to come from next year.”

Xiberras, who has been energetically working to haul PremiAir up the order since taking over the defunct Tekno Autosports squad at late notice at the beginning of 2022, said Stanaway’s history of results in the Supercars and overseas made him the frontrunning candidate for the drive.

“There is no doubting Richie is exceptionally talented — you don’t have a CV like his or win the Bathurst 1000 by accident after all,” he said.

“While he was forced to endure an early exit at Sandown this year, it was clear that he has what it takes, especially when the weather gods are against you.

“We look forward to having Richie join our team alongside Jimmy Golding and seeing what we can achieve together.”

Xiberras also paid credit to the retiring Slade after two years of service, having replaced Christ Pither after the team’s first season in the competition.

“We would once again like to thank Tim for all of his efforts and contributions to our team over the past two years,” he said. “He has been a true gentleman of the sport.

“We look forward to continuing to work with him and Jimmy as we all look to finish out the current season in the best way possible.”

Stanaway’s PremiAir lifeline is the second time the Kiwi has had his career rescued from what seemed like a certain end.

The 32-year-old had retired from competition at the end of 2019 at the end of two difficult seasons that effectively forced him out of the category, having failed to make good on his highly touted promise after a successful junior career racing oversees that saw him claim titles in Germany’s Formel Masters and Formula 3 as well as class wins with Aston Martin’s factory World Endurance Championship team.

He was coaxed out of retirement by the prospect of a Bathurst 1000 co-drive with Kiwi legend Greg Murphy in 2022, and though he acquitted himself well, it was too late to make an impact on the driver market.

Triple Eight offered him the stepping stone of a co-drive for 2023 alongside compatriot Shane van Gisbergen. The pair won the Great Race, the result getting Stanaway over the line to replace David Reynolds at Grove for this season.

But despite a strong opening round to the campaign, a slow reacclimatising to the sport saw the team lose faith in him, replacing him with highly rated junior Kai Allen from 2025.

Few options appeared available to Stanaway in a driver market that rapidly unravelled around him, putting his career again at risk, but Slade’s timely retirement opened the door to him racing for another season with PremiAir.

It leaves the 2025 grid almost complete, with only confirmation of Brad Jones Racing’s second set of cars required to complete the field.

Neither Jaxon Evans nor Macauley Jones has been publicly announced to have retained their seats for next season, though Brad Jones has said several times that he expects to take an unchanged line-up into the new year.

Asked again about his driver roster in Bathurst, the team boss said: “Right now nothing’s changed. I’m not expecting any change”.

Evans and Jones renewing for 2025 would spell the end of Mark Winterbottom’s full-time Supercars career, the 2015 champion having been blindsided by Team 18’s pursuit of Anton de Pasquale for his seat.

The 41-time race winner had intended to continue racing full-time but has suggested he will return as a co-driver next year if no seat becomes available.

2025 Supercars grid so far

Triple Eight Race Engineering: Will Brown and Broc Feeney

Tickford Racing: Cam Waters and Thomas Randle

Walkinshaw Andretti United: Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood

Grove Racing: Matt Payne and Kai Allen

Dick Johnson Racing: Will Davison and Brodie Kostecki

Matt Stone Racing: Nick Percat and Cameron Hill

Team 18: David Reynolds and Anton de Pasquale

PremiAir Racing: James Golding and Richie Stanaway

Erebus Motorsport: Jack Le Brocq and Cooper Murray

Brad Jones Racing (1): Andre Heimgartner and Bryce Fullwood

Brad Jones Racing (2): (out of contract: Jaxon Evans and Macauley Jones)

Blanchard Racing Team: James Courtney and Aaron Love