OUTGOING PremiAir Racing competition director Ludo Lacroix has expressed frustration at the inability to string a full day together after a strong result went begging for James Golding in Adelaide.

Golding qualified second-last for the Saturday race following a costly kerb strike, and then was hit with a five-second penalty for a false start.

The reaction was to long-fill the #31 Camaro during its first stop, and all told Golding came home 14th on a day where he was “easily” top 10 material according to Lacroix.

“I was very disappointed with qualifying: kerb strike, kerb strike, kerb strike, kerb strike,” said the Frenchman, who is departing the team.

“Jimmy couldn’t get into the top 18, and he obviously has a much better car than that. I’m not saying that because it’s what I believe; I’m saying it because that’s what it is. When you see the car racing, it’s easily a top 10 car.

“We know what we’ve put in the car, and it’s very close to what our friends (technical partners Triple Eight) have and they’re top five. So that was disappointing.”

Teammate Jayden Ojeda did make it through part one of qualifying, but finished 20th as he continues his late-season apprenticeship with a view to 2026.

Back to Car #31…

“With Jimmy, unfortunately, we had a false start. We must have moved before the green flag and after the red light, and that cost us five seconds,” mused Lacroix.

“We were racing well, then had to pay the five-second penalty, which dropped us back with people you don’t want to be around. So we put more fuel in, trying to find him some space to race on his own but putting more fuel in early is not clever, because you have to carry it, and without a Safety Car to give that time back, we cost ourselves in lap time.

“We ended up P14 which is good from P24, but I think the car is easily capable of top ten. He was racing for 10-odd laps with P1 pace as fast as the leader…

“We keep saying ‘we could have, we could have’ but we make a mistake.

“The pitstops were very good, no mistakes, everything smooth. But if it’s not an accident with someone and a 10- or 15-second penalty, then it’s a five-second penalty for a start.

“There’s always something stopping us from doing a perfect weekend – qualify well, race well, no penalties.

“And if you can’t do that, you’re never going to be top ten or top five.”

PremiAir Racing sits 10th in the teams’ championship with a single podium to its credit this season, achieved by Golding and co-driver David Russell in last month’s Repco Bathurst 1000.