FOR someone who spent the best part of two decades running the most successful team in Supercars history, it remains a tad strange to see Roland Dane operating towards the bottom end of pitlane.
Dane returned to the paddock in a full-time capacity this January to take the reins as team principal at PremiAir Racing.
What has followed has been diligent notetaking from Dane at every opportunity, an occasional fire-up (e.g. making a point to Supercars chief motorsport officer Tim Edwards at Albert Park), and a sense of growing confidence within the PremiAir camp.
Even if the results on paper aren’t anything to crowd about just yet.
So, how is Dane finding this new challenge?
“I promise you one thing: I would not be here if I wasn’t overall enjoying it. I can promise you that,” he asserted to V8 Sleuth.
“I am definitely enjoying working with a very good, young, vibrant team of guys.
“Apart from me and (team manager) Pete Vale, everyone else is in the first half (of life), not the second half.
“So I think that is invigorating for me and I’m enjoying it.”
Now for perhaps the biggest slice of praise…
“I have to say, from a team perspective of people working together, having each other’s backs, looking after each other, it’s as good as I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“As a group, with or without me, they’ll get there sooner or later.
“There’s an awful lot of positive things here.”
PremiAir’s 2026 drivers Jayden Ojeda and Declan Fraser are aged 26 and 25 respectively, and are paired with young gun engineers Andrew Gilliam and Simon Hodge.
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